Knack
is a game for which I can't figure out the demographic. The cutscenes
make it look like a kids' movie, but the gameplay is incredibly basic
and brutally hard for no good reason. I recently picked this up at my
local GameXchange for $7, having heard about it previously. This is a
game I really wanted to like, but frustrating design ideas and a lack
of gameplay depth make this game a chore to play.
First and foremost, the enemies in
this game deal a ton of damage. I played through this game on normal,
but no matter how big Knack grows in size, he dies in two or three
hits, tops. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but the game is
filled with cheap-hitting enemies, some of which shoot Knack from
afar or have attacks that allow them to dash across the playfield for
a cheap shot while he's busy fighting other foes.
The core gameplay comes down to
replaying each section of the game over and over again until you get
a perfect run or collect enough yellow energy to hit enemies with a
super attack. The unbalanced damage dealt by enemies makes for a game
that is challenging for all the wrong reasons. It's demotivating to
have to replay a large section of the level repeatedly because you
misjudged one dodge and were one-shotted by an overpowered enemy. I
don't mind difficulty; some games can be difficult but satisfying
when you beat a tough level. However, the repetitive and unfair
feeling of Knack makes for a game that is frustrating—difficult but
with no rewarding payoff for completing a level.
What doesn't help the situation is
Knack's extremely limited attack abilities. When you start the game,
Knack has a basic three-hit combo with which to attack his foes. When
you end the game, Knack has the same three-hit combo with which to
attack his foes. That's right; Knack has one combo to use throughout
the entire game. On top of his limited combo, he also has a mostly
useless air attack that has the smallest range I've ever seen. If
you're not almost directly above the enemy you are air attacking,
Knack will miss his target.
He is also equipped with a mostly
useless dodge mechanic. Like God of War (the original God of War, not
the new ones), hitting the right analog stick will see Knack dodging
out of the way of attacks. However, unlike Kratos, Knack's dodge is
just a little too short to be effective, and Knack pauses for a split
second after each dodge, leaving him open for attack. It lacks
effective range and leaves you open for attack, meaning that it
doesn't work as a dodge but can be useful to close the distance and
attack enemies after staying out of their attack-combo range. It's
better used as an offensive attack than as an actual dodge.
Throughout the game, Knack can
break yellow crystals to fill a meter at the top of the screen. When
the meter is filled, he can then perform super moves. The game is
self-aware of its own difficulty in that, when you die, the meter
doesn't drain. In fact, in tough areas, it is sometimes better to
expend a number of lives to repeatedly break the yellow crystals to
fill the meter so you can unleash a super attack on your foes to
clear them out in order to progress.
When the game's difficulty curve
kicks in, every new area of this game feels like a challenge mode
because of the absurd amount of damage enemies dish out and the
sometimes unfair-feeling checkpoints. The frustration could be
mitigated if the enemies dropped life pickups or even yellow crystal
pickups, but they don't drop anything (at least until you complete an
in-game gadget that makes them drop yellow crystals), making the
combat feel all the less rewarding. Any and all life pickups are in
predetermined parts of the level, and they rarely give you enough
life to actually make a difference.
There are some hidden areas in the
game, but overall, there's almost no extra exploration to be had.
There are hidden chests that contain gadget parts, which, once
formed, can enhance Knack's abilities, but I have yet to complete one
to see if that improves the game in any way. The game is pretty
linear, without much extra to see or find outside of the gadgets.
By the time I completed the first
gadget, the tedium of the gameplay had already set in, and it was too
little, too late. The gadgets unlock things that should have just
been basic gameplay balancing, like giving more yellow energy from
the crystals, even if it still doesn't give you that much extra. The
gadget and crystal hunt do add more to find if you're a completionist
kind of gamer, but if I hadn't decided to do this review last minute,
I would probably only play this game for a couple of levels before
the repetitive gameplay made me lose interest. It would be a game I
would pop in, play a level or two, get bored of quickly, and move on.
I really wanted to like this game.
It has a great art direction and beautiful visuals (despite some
massive framerate problems in some areas) that can deceive you into
believing there's a higher quality product than your first impression
would have you believe, but there really isn't much more to it, which
is a shame because it feels like this game should have had more to
it.
There are some good ideas at play
in the game, like Knack growing into a larger form of himself to
where he can deal more damage to enemies; however, it's still
hampered by the fact that some enemies will still kill him in three
hits or less. The whole game just feels unbalanced due to the
exorbitant amount of damage dealt by enemies versus the lack of
health pickups available and the repetitive lack of any variety in
the combat.
I will admit that now that I have
beaten the game, which opens up new modes like time attack, the
coliseum mode, and the ability to go back and play any section of the
game, the game has grown on me more. However, that first playthrough
felt like a slog. I have gotten better at facing the opponents and
death traps in each level, thanks to the many deaths it took per
section, so I have improved at the game. It's growing on me more now
that I can casually jump back into a section of a level and play.
However, during my playthrough, I lost complete patience with the
game for the second half, instantly skipping any and all
cutscenes—not just the story ones, but also the mid-level ones that
show Knack doing things like jumping off a ledge to get to the next
part of the level. The more I play it, the more it grows on me, so I
am a bit mixed on the game overall. It's not a great game; sometimes
I was convinced it wasn't even a good game, but it's growing on me.
Visually, even with Boost mode on
with the PS4 Pro I am using for this footage, the game suffers from a
poor framerate in some areas, especially in the giant Knack scenes.
The visuals still look really good considering this was a launch game
for the PS4. I almost jokingly want to say that Knack is a game that
looks like a million bucks but plays like a Dollar Tree special.
From the art direction to the
quality graphics to the animation-quality cutscenes and the excellent
symphonic music score, you can tell that Japan Studio put a lot of
effort into everything but the gameplay, which is a shame. That being
said, I don't own Knack 2 as of yet, but in watching some gameplay
samples of the game on YouTube, I can tell they made quite a bit of
improvements to the game in the sequel. One of these days, I will
probably pick up the sequel, which looks to be anywhere from $10 used
to $25 for a brand new copy on eBay as of making this video.
The Bottom Line: I really
wanted to like Knack a whole lot more than I did. The game is growing
on me the more I play it, which could just be Stockholm syndrome. I
have gotten my $7 worth of entertainment out of it, but it's
definitely a game that is hard to recommend to most gamers out there.
This is a game that feels three generations too late and would have
made a perfectly bland but forgettable PS1 game. It's not the worst
game ever, and I'd say it's a bit better than some of the mainstream
reviews made it out to be, but its inflated difficulty, thanks to the
unbalanced damage dealt by enemies mixed with its repetitive and
tedious-feeling gameplay, really bogs this game down into a slog.
That first playthrough is rough, and the game drags on longer than it
should. This is a game that overstays its welcome, and I can only
recommend it to the most forgiving and patient gamers out there. If
you're an incredibly forgiving gamer who can find enjoyment in even
the most flawed games, find this game for cheap and give it a shot.
It does grow on you over time.
I
was at my local Walmart the other day, and I always find myself drawn
to that little section on the back wall of the electronics section
that has composite cables, universal TV remotes, signal splitters,
and sometimes even upscalers. I was browsing that section when I
noticed a $21 Monster video capture card on the shelf, so I decided
to buy it. I'm a big fan of showcasing budget options for anyone
looking to get into making videos for YouTube. A lot of tech
channels, in particular, are way out of touch when it comes to the
budget market. This is especially true of most of the big PC gaming
tech channels, but that's a different subject for another time.
Now,
the official name for this capture card is the Monster 4K Black Audio
Video USB 3.0 HDMI Capture Card, which is deceptive. It has 4K
pass-through but only records at 1080p 60fps. So, you can pass a 4K
signal through the capture card to your TV, but it only records at
1080p. I read the packaging and understood what it was saying, but it
might mislead some people into thinking they are getting a 4K capture
card for $21 instead of a 1080p capture card. So, that's kind of
scammy, even if $21 is still dirt cheap for a 1080p60 capture card.
Another
sort of deceptive part about this product is that it is a blatant
reskin of a generic capture card that is already available on Amazon.
However, the Amazon version and the Monster version are around the
same price, so there's not a big markup difference. The Monster
capture card also comes with some nice packaging and a thick but
short USB 3.0 to USB 3.0 cable. The USB cable is only around 2 feet
long, which might not work well depending on your setup.
This
capture card is plug-and-play with OBS. You plug it into a USB 3.0
slot, and OBS should recognize it and let you set it up to capture
video and sound from it. It's pretty simple to set up. I set my OBS
settings to record at 1080p 60fps, and it works great. The 4K
passthrough, which I've been using with my PS4 Pro and on my current
PC, works great.
I
made a community post about this card when I bought it, and since
then, I have put it through various testing. At first, I was curious
as to whether or not the card would recognize and record 480p or 720p
signals. It does. I pulled out my Retrotink 2X Pro, which can have
issues with some capture cards, and it worked great. The only bad
part for aspect ratio purists is that it seems to stretch the
Retrotink's image into widescreen, but the aspect ratio can be fixed
in your editing software.
For
720p, I pulled out my Hyperkin Retron 5 and my Hyperkin cable for the
N64, and it captured both the Retron 5 and Hyperkin 3-in-one cable
without any issues. Then, I was curious to see what would happen if I
hooked up my gaming laptop to it to capture footage from a game that
was running at 120 frames per second. I did notice some screen
tearing, but the footage still looks pretty good. If you're looking
to capture PC benchmarks, this can work, but there will be some
tearing in the footage at times. If you're looking to review or do a
let's play, you can always limit the framerate down to 60 frames per
second if you're capturing footage for non-benchmark videos. I'm sure
there are some OBS settings that can help with the tearing issue as
well.
For
the final end-boss of video capturing, there is the PS3's HDCP lock,
which stops all other capture cards in their tracks. I normally use a
signal splitter with my HD60s, which allows me to capture PS3 footage
through the HDMI cable. However, for the Monster capture card, you
can pass the PS3 through the card, and it doesn't care about HDCP.
This is the title screen for the special features disc of Revenge
of the Sith,
which, by the way, did you know you can put the special features disc
into an original Xbox and play a demo of Battlefront
2?
I forgot about that. The rest of the PS3 capture came out fine as
well.
So
far, the only downside I have found with this capture card is that,
in using the slightly slower USB 3.0 to USB 3.0 cable—unlike the
HD60S and XR1 Lite, which use a Type C to USB 3.0 cable—you can't
play the game through your OBS screen. Sometimes, people don't have a
TV to hook it up to or an extra monitor, and with the speed of the
more expensive options like the Elgato, you can pretty much play the
games right off your OBS screen if you have no other options. Another
downside for some is that it also doesn't capture HDR, but neither do
my other 1080p capture cards.
I
can't comment on long-term reliability as of yet; if any issues come
up, I will let you know. However, small issues aside, this Monster
USB 3.0 capture card might just be the Budget King of 1080p capture
cards. I will show some gameplay samples after I am done talking to
demonstrate the quality so you can judge for yourself. If you're on a
budget and are looking to start a YouTube channel where you need to
capture console footage in particular, don't overlook this $21
capture card. Larger channels will always tell you Elgato, Avermedia,
or EVGA, but don't overlook this budget card. So far, I'm very
impressed with it. I'm going to use it as my daily driver for the
next while just to see if any long-term reliability issues arise. For
1080p quality, it's really impressive. Starting a channel doesn't
always have to be expensive.
Given the nickname "Goddess of War" at the time, Heavenly Sword was, unquestionably, inspired by the exploits of everyone's favorite Spartan. Its story-focused design, use of quick time events, some of its combat elements, and general design are definitely an homage to God of War; however, Heavenly Sword still puts its own unique spin on the formula. Coming out just six months after God of War II meant that reviews of the day compared it directly to God of War, and most of them concluded that the game was God of War but with a female protagonist, which isn't an entirely fair assessment. In its own right, Heavenly Sword is still an excellent hack-and-slash romp that is far from a one-to-one copy of God of War.
The PS3 had a rough start after it launched. I've talked about it in a couple of my past videos, but that first year the system was on the market saw very slim pickings when it came to console-exclusive games. There were a number of multiplatform games released as well, but there weren't a lot of reasons to buy a PS3 if you already owned an Xbox 360. In my Resistance: Fall of Man review, I said that it isn't an exaggeration to say that Resistance almost single-handedly kept the PS3 afloat in the West for its first year on the market. Resistance was THE premier exclusive title for the system until Uncharted hit almost one year later to the day of the PS3's release. Resistance, its Blu-ray player capabilities, and the promise of Metal Gear Solid 4, on top of the PlayStation brand recognition, were really the best reasons to pay the extra $100–$200 for a PS3 over an Xbox 360. Because when it came to the library of exclusive games, there was no competition; the 360 had a much larger library and a more (and I would argue a better library of) console exclusives at that time. In the first year of the PS3's life, it was hard to justify buying one over an Xbox 360.
In saying that Resistance was the premier PS3 exclusive, that's not to say there weren't other noteworthy exclusives for the system in its first year on the market. MotorStorm was another popular release, and games like Warhawk, Lair (which was a high-profile flop), Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and finally, Heavenly Sword were also high-profile exclusives for the system as well.
2007 was an exceptionally good year for action gamers who owned a PS3. On March 13th, Sony Santa Monica Studios released the venerable God of War II on the PS2, which was playable on the PS3 thanks to backwards compatibility. God of War II was a huge release for the PS2 and is still one of the best games on the system, taking everything that was great about the original and expanding upon it while cutting out some of the parts gamers hated, like that stupid Hades level in the original.
Later that year, on July 3rd, 2007, Team Ninja released Ninja Gaiden Sigma on the PS3. This was a great port of a great game, but also not a system seller, as while it was certainly a good exclusive for the PS3, it was also just an enhanced edition of a game that had already been released twice over on the original Xbox. It was great to see Ninja Gaiden on a PlayStation console for the first time, but I don't imagine a lot of people bought a PS3 exclusively for Sigma either.
Finally, on September 12th, Heavenly Sword was released, and considering God of War III was still two and a half years away, Heavenly Sword was the closest thing to a next-generation God of War game PS3 owners would see for a long time. Heavenly Sword was developed by Ninja Theory, who would later release Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and Hellblade, and tells the story of Nariko, whose birth was in defiance of a prophecy in her clan that one day a son would be born who would wield the Heavenly Sword against a powerful enemy. The Heavenly Sword is a sword protected for generations by her clan and is said to have been forged by a bloodthirsty god. Her being born a woman instead of a man is seen as a curse upon the clan, which is now being hunted down by a bloodthirsty king intent on recovering the Heavenly Sword; the clan's true feelings about Nariko come back to the forefront throughout the game.
The combat system in Heavenly Sword is more focused on countering attacks than the visceral combat feel of God of War. Nariko's offense is divided between three stances: speed, power, and range. The range attack, which is performed by attacking while holding L1, can deflect incoming arrows, crows, and other projectiles, but it is unable to counter any enemy attacks. The speed attack is the default attack, represented by a blue aura; it can be used to counter regular enemy attacks—those attacks where the enemies have a blue aura around them while attacking. The heavy attack, which is performed by attacking while holding R1, is represented by an orange aura and is useful against more heavily armored opponents and for countering heavy orange attacks from enemies.
On top of the three attack stances and counter-focused combat, Nariko can also pick up various items like swords and shields to throw at enemies, including the bodies of vanquished enemies, which can lead to some pretty humorous outcomes. Holding down the throw button after you throw an object slows down time as the camera zooms in on the object, allowing it to be controlled by the player during flight. This Aftertouch, as it's dubbed in the manual, can also be used for Kai's Crossbow or in those scenes where Nariko is defending a fortress against encroaching catapults and an invading army.
Seeing as this was an early PS3 game, the Aftertouch effect has forced Sixaxis controls to guide the projectile through the air. I got about halfway through the game before I realized that all the Sixaxis controls (no doubt imposed upon this game by Sony) could be turned off in the options menu, which I promptly did. If you've ever played this game and hated the parts that use motion controls, you can simply shut them off.
Heavenly Sword is too old to have trophy support, meaning there's nothing here for those trophy hunters out there. If you remember, Sony didn't roll out trophies as their response to Xbox's Gamer Score until the latter half of 2008 and didn't make them mandatory until 2009. Even Uncharted would have to be patched almost a year after release with trophy support. That being said, Nariko is graded on her performance in each section, and there are a number of making-of featurettes and new combos that can be unlocked.
The new combos come in handy because there are quite a few of them that are block-breaking combos, which I started using in the game long after I faced the most annoying block-everything opponents in the game. In fact, there is an entire list of combos for each stance that's available in the pause menu. I suggest you study and familiarize yourself with the block-breaking combos in particular.
On top of multiple unlockable combos, three different sword stances, and a big emphasis on countering opponents' attacks, Nariko can also pull off Superstyle Attacks, where, upon earning enough style points, up to three globes in the Superstyle disk within Nariko's health meter light up, allowing Nariko to unload a superstyle attack on an enemy, which will kill that enemy and sometimes damage the surrounding foes as well. The Superstyle attacks were another feature I forgot to use until near the end of the game on my first run. They're very effective; I just forgot they were a thing for a while.
Overall, the combat feel of the game is excellent. Yes, for the time of its release, being released in the same year as God of War II and having a lot fewer similar games on the market to compare it to than we do today, mainstream reviews would inevitably compare Heavenly Sword directly to God of War without much nuance. However, years removed from unfair comparison reviews, Heavenly Sword still stands on its own as an excellent action game whose combat system is incredibly fluid and unique. While yes, the combat feels a little more reactive in nature due to the emphasis on countering attacks, it does give the combat a more balanced feel of when to attack versus when to dodge and when to counter.
In fact, the counters are fun and become quite addictive to try and pull off in time to watch as an enemy attacks you, only to see Nariko stylishly launch them across the screen or put them on the ground and snap their neck. It adds a lot of depth and fluidity to the combat, whereas in most games, you'd just block enemy attacks until the window to attack again is open, but players who master this combat system will basically be able to attack without interruption if you time the counters right.
The fact that the counter button is also an attack button helps the player counter various attacks without disrupting their own attacks. Having an attack button as the counter button does, however, mean that I often felt like I countered more attacks by accident as opposed to using precise timing and skill to counter. The combat is fluid and sleek, with a more graceful flow to it than many similar games.
Overall, the combat in Heavenly Sword is fun and distinct in feel: it's stylistic in nature, and the stance swapping and counter system bring a lot of extra depth and strategy to its battles. This isn't the visceral, rage-filled combat of God of War, but it was never trying to be God of War in the first place. Inspired by it in many ways? Yes. A replacement for it? No, outside of it being a stand-in game for not having a God of War game available on the PS3 early in its life cycle.
In fact, outside of some quick time events and some similar elements in the dodge roll mechanic and air combos, Heavenly Sword really isn't a God of War clone, especially in its set pieces. The game chooses set pieces like manning a cannon to defend a fortress or Kai's crossbow scenes over the exploration and puzzle elements of the God of War games. Every God of War game has some set pieces, but also scenes of intense action followed by exploration and puzzle elements. Heavenly Sword has very minimal exploration or puzzle elements. There are a couple of light puzzle scenes, but overall, Heavenly Sword, in many regards, is more of a straight-up action-focused game than even God of War.
Most of the set pieces do just come down to using the Aftertouch ability to hurl either crossbow bolts or cannonballs at moving targets. These scenes were, no doubt, added to promote the Sixaxis capabilities of the DualShock 3, but these scenes are well done and play a lot better if you shut off the motion controls in the options menu. To break up the action even more, there is even an entire level in the game where you play as Kai instead of Nariko. Kai's only means of attack is her trusty crossbow, making these scenes feel a lot more like a third-person shooter than a hack-and-slash style game. The scene is well done and plays well once you adjust to evading enemies to create distance so you can take them out with the crossbow.
When it comes to difficulty, on the default setting, I'd say the difficulty on normal is just right. Fans of these kinds of games will probably breeze through the game on their first run. I say this as someone who's more of a casual fan of this sub-genre because I don't go out of my way to play overly frustrating games. For example, I only recently bought Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and I casually pop it in to play here and there, but I've avoided the game for years because I know of its legendary difficulty. I have to get into a hardcore focus mood in order to tackle a game like Ninja Gaiden Sigma. In Heavenly Sword, while I did die a couple of times in the boss battles throughout the game, the only boss that gave me THAT kind of trouble (I'm sure you know what I mean by that kind of trouble) was the end boss. Granted, he's the end boss; he's supposed to be the one you die at a dozen or so times before you beat him. The boss battles themselves are well thought out and well designed, generally with each boss having three forms to fight. As I said, they aren't overly difficult once you learn their patterns, which might take a life or two to figure out. The only parts in the boss battles I found myself repeatedly failing at were the Quick-Time Event portions. I don't think I ever hit one on the first, and sometimes not even the second or third try. The good thing is the QTEs can be memorized because they're the same every time. If the normal difficulty is too easy, beating the game on the normal difficulty will unlock the “Hell” difficulty setting.
The overall controls in the game are responsive and tight during combat, with the biggest learning curve being switching stances to counter speed and heavy attacks. The crossbow aiming does feel a little imprecise, but you'll probably be using Aftertouch in most of your shots. Even with the Sixaxis controls, the Aftertouch controls okay. It's definitely a lot more precise shutting off all motion controls and using the analog stick, but if you're a fan of motion controls, they work decently enough.
Graphically, the art direction makes for a game that is still appealing to look at. The manual isn't clear if the game takes place in an entirely fantasy world or in our world, but the backgrounds and setting look like scenery from the Hallelujah Mountains in China, with parts of the castles and fortresses reminding me even of Ico, which I recently reviewed. The background settings of the game are gorgeous to look at and add to the atmosphere of the game.
While the game is still pretty to look at to this day thanks to its art direction, it also has that early PS3 look that I can't really describe. I'm not good at describing visual effects; I'm not Digital Foundry, but that lighting bloom gives everything a dreamy, glowy look, like a shiny halo around objects in the game, mixed with the fact that objects themselves look extra shiny at times for no reason. This definitely has early pre-Unreal 3 engine looks to it. Unreal 3 would become the go-to game engine on the PS360 and would make the vast majority of games on those systems look samey. You know how everyone is complaining about UE5 today and how it makes every game look the same nowadays? Same thing with Unreal 3 in the seventh generation.
It sounds crazy in a way, but because of the way early PS3 games looked, Heavenly Sword looks like it could take place in the same world as Lair. Its art direction and visuals are unique, but it's just the way early PS3 games looked. Even parts of Uncharted look like Heavenly Sword, and the big, open mountainous terrain looks similar to a lot of other PS3 games released around that time as well. My best way to describe it is that early PS3 look. If you know, you know.
The music in the game is excellent. Composed by Nitin Sawhney, and I'm not good at describing music, but some of it sounds like a mixture of Indian and Asian folk music, while other portions of the soundtrack feature big orchestral numbers thrown in for scenes like the last boss fight. It's all well composed, and its unique blending of styles gives the game a distinct feel, adding to the strange fantasy atmosphere of the game.
The voice-over work also adds to the strange fantasy atmosphere of the game. Featuring Andy Serkis of Gollum fame as King Bohan and a cast of other talented actors, the voice-over work in the game is, overall, well performed, with some of the characters, like Fox, being a bit too campy and over the top (isn't... that... right... Na-Ri-Ko?). Overall, the characters come off as a little weird, but that also kind of adds to the game. Some are over-the-top cartoon characters; others are incredibly serious, but somehow I actually found that it works for this game. The characters are definitely weird, but it almost feels like they are supposed to be a bit weird and over the top at times.
The Bottom Line: Heavenly Sword is beloved among early PS3 adopters for a reason. Its biggest flaw is its lack of trophy support and its short length. However, it does give players reasons to play through it a couple of times. This was a God of War stand-in game released in the first year of the PS3's life that was, I would say, unfairly compared directly to God of War when it hit. While the game draws inspiration from God of War, in the close to two decades after its release, far removed from those direct comparisons, it still stands as an exceptional action game whose fluid combat system, unique art direction, and storytelling focus help it stand the test of time. There's a good chance that most PS3 gamers missed this game thanks to its early release in the system's lifespan. It did sell over a million copies but was still considered a failure and was quickly forgotten due to the slow sales start of the system. If you're a fan of action games in the style of God of War, Devil May Cry, or even Ninja Gaiden, Heavenly Sword is worth picking up. Eighteen years after its release, it's still a fondly remembered cult classic for a reason.
And if you're a fan of Ninja Theory's art stylings and unique game
design concepts, you should also look into Enslaved: Odyssey to the
West, which plays like a mixture of God of War and Prince of Persia,
with even some Ico mixed with squad-based tactical strategy thrown in
for good measure. It's another unique game from Ninja Theory that I
think a lot of people are aware of nowadays. It was released on the Xbox
360, PS3, and is still available on Steam if you want to support the
developers that way. I don't know if the Steam version runs well on
modern hardware, but I've had good luck running UE3 games on my PC.
There's always the discussion tab on Steam if you have any issues.
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Video Tags: Heavenly Sword,PS3,Heavenly Sword review,PS3 game review,action-adventure game,PlayStation 3,video game review,gaming,game review,Heavenly Sword gameplay,PS3 exclusive,cinematic gameplay,character design,game mechanics,story review,gaming nostalgia,PlayStation classics,action game,game graphics,gaming community,video game analysis,PS3 titles,game recommendations,Heavenly Sword characters,gaming history
My apologies that it looks so crummy, I had to run it through handbrake because Youtube's processing kept messing up the raw file. I had to upload this a couple of times because the processing on Youtube's end kept messing it up.
0:00 Introduction 2:38 Taito Legends 2 (PS2) 18:39 Armored Core 2 (PS2) 31:26 MDK (PS1) 47:22 Tomb Raider (PS1) 01:07:09 Grand Prix Challenge (PS2) 01:18:42 Skyblazer (Snes) 01:29:53 E.T. (Atari 2600) 01:41:08 All-Star Slammin' D-Ball (PS1) 01:47:24 Quake II 64 01:52:50 G.I Joe (NES) 02:04:15 Bloody Roar (PS1) 02:10:43 Tomb Raider 2 (PS1) 02:34:36 Ninja Warriors (Snes) 02:40:52 Castlevania Chronicles (PS1) 02:50:55 Robotron X (PS1) 03:00:46 Centipede: Infestation (Wii) 03:07:14 TMNT: Hyperstone Heist (Genesis) 03:19:24 Robotron 64 03:28:31 Food Fight (Atari 7800) 03:40:20 Blowout (PS2) 03:46:38 Mega Man (Nes) 03:59:19 Killzone (PS2,PS3) 04:21:23 Battletanx: Global Assault (N64) 04:34:02 Pinobee (PS1) 04:42:21 1942 (NES) 04:51:08 Super Dodge Ball (NES) 04:56:18 The Adventures of Cookie and Cream (PS2) 05:01:47 Gungrave (PS2) 05:09:27 MagMax (NES) 05:14:32 Syphon Filter 3 (PS1) 05:25:51 Donkey Kong Country (Snes) 05:33:14 Crazy Taxi (PS2,DC) 05:36:03 Motor Mayhem (PS2) 05:48:25 Disney's Treasure Planet (PS2) 05:52:11 ChuChu Rocket (DC) 05:56:19 Call of Duty: Finest Hour (PS2) 05:58:48 Magix Music Maker (PS2) 06:04:27 Katamari Damacy REROLL (PC) 06:13:25 Wanted: Weapons of Fate (PS3) 06:20:25 Dante's Inferno: Divine Edition (PS3) 06:34:21 Twisted Metal Black (PS2) 06:38:36 Einhander (PS1)
Just a compilation of 10 reviews I have previously uploaded on this channel. I wanted to use my Ryse: Son of Rome review in this one, but since it got restricted, I subbed Tenchu in instead. To see the Ryse review go here: https://youtu.be/V-dhz5fUJWo
To know why HHH is just getting super-kicked by Stevie Richards, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MonzR5bhMpc
0:00 2001 PS2 Releases 1:00:34 Jak and Daxter Review 1:18:44 Mirror's Edge (Xbox 360,PS3) 1:41:10 Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3) 2:01:47 True Crime: New York City (PS2) 2:20:16 Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (PS1) 2:26:52 Millipede (NES) 2:42:48 Deus Ex: Invisible War (PC,Xbox) 3:16:44 Ico (PS2,PS3) 3:31:30 God of War (PS2,PS3) 3:52:01 Doom 3 (PC)
There
are some games that are more popular and well-known now than when
they first released. These games were completely overlooked by the
general gaming public, and years of word-of-mouth from gamers and
even "Hidden Gems" articles would finally bring these games
into the spotlight they justly deserved. In my Jak and Daxter review,
I went over how insane a year for gaming 2001 was. Ico did get some
good coverage by some magazines prior to its release, and I do
remember playing and liking the demo of the game before I ever played
it, but for whatever reason, when this game first released, it flew
completely under the radar. Reviewers loved the game, but the general
North American gaming public at the time of its release completely
overlooked it despite it reviewing well in every outlet, with EGM
even giving it game-of-the-month honors. In a later issue of EGM, I
can't remember which one, they would run a Hidden Gems article where
they featured Ico in their list which help get the game more
notoriety among mainstream gamers.
Ico
would eventually become the most well-known hidden gem on the PS2,
and the later release and success of Shadow of the Colossus has seen
both of them rise in the ranks as two of the most beloved PS2
classics. It took a lot longer than expected, but the game has now
become a beloved PS2 classic among gamers with a visual aesthetic
that blurred the line between being a video game or a piece of
artwork, an amazing atmosphere, and unique hybrid puzzle game meets
adventure game gameplay. While the combat and exploration elements
are a far cry from, say, Zelda, which Ico bears likeness to at first
glance, its unique blending of puzzle-game with adventure game, on
top of escort-gameplay, really makes for a unique game that doesn't
fit the mold of any particular genre of game.
The
story centers around Ico, a boy born with horns, a
once-in-a-generation curse upon his village. As the cursed child, the
village blames any and every misfortune that befalls them on the
child until the day of the sacrifice. On his twelfth birthday, Ico is
dragged off to an ancient, crumbling fortress ruin where he is locked
away in a stone crypt as a sacrifice to appease the spirits and lift
the curse off his village. Luckily for Ico, the decayed state of the
fortress allows him free himslef from the eternal bondage crypt
dumping him out onto the castle floor where a vision of Yorda comes
to him, and find her. Upon rescuing Yorda, their perilous journey to
escape the ancient castle and the evil queen that controls it begins.
I
haven't played through Ico since 2007 or 2008, so my memory of the
game is a bit hazy. I remember that I loved the game, but I only
vaguely recalled parts of it. For this review, I was going to record
a full playthrough of the PS3's remastered version—the one that
also came with Shadow of the Colossus—and play the PS2 version,
recording some footage. However, I noticed some interesting changes
in the PS3 remaster compared to the PS2 version of the game which
prompted me to record a full playthrough of the PS2 version as well.
There were two big,
significant differences. The first noticeable one is a change in the
combat. In the PS3 version, enemies dodge more and feel easier to
fight, whereas in the PS2 version, they are much more aggressive—even
pinballing Ico around on the ground when he is trying to get back up
after being knocked down. Additionally, there are two completely
different puzzles in the waterfall area of the game.
I
didn’t realize the changes to the game until I played the PS2
version, but it turns out the PS3 version of the game follows the
changes made to the PAL version of Ico. The PAL version added some
extra content, altered the combat, and modified the controls so that
you had to continually hold the R1 button to stay attached to
Yorda—as opposed to tapping it to attach and tapping it again to
let go in the NTSC version. (You can change it to the latter in the
options menu.) At first, I thought Bluepoint had made these changes,
but one of the FAQs on GameFAQs explained the differences to me.
Pal
gamers won't notice a difference in the level designs and combat of
the PS3 Remaster, but diehard NTSC fans might be a little taken aback
by the changes. It's still mostly identical to the NTSC PS2 version,
but the differences are noticeable.
Ico
is a game where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Yes,
it's a visual work of art in motion; it's also an incredibly
well-designed puzzle game, a giant escort mission—where you guide
Yorda throughout varied game environments, and has Zelda-esque
exploration and combat elements. The game's story also doesn't
overwhelm the player with a lot of text and explanation; yet, it
still manages to offer two of the most intriguing characters in
gaming history. What it lacks in direct storytelling, it conveys
visually through both Yorda's and Ico's animations and actions. Both
characters possess a sense of childhood innocence, and you find
yourself growing fond of them despite not being able to understand
them.
There
are some cut-scenes to tell the story, but the bulk of the experience
and fondness for the characters comes through their visual pantomime,
where the characters Yorda and Ico are given more depth through their
actions and reactions than any dialogue spoken throughout the
game.
At first, the most striking feature of the game is its
incredible art direction. Reviews at the time compared the visuals to
an impressionist painting. Even in the PS2 version—where I am
upscaling 240p to 720p with the Hyperkin cable—Ico is still a
beautiful game. On the PS1 and N64, there were some games that used
interesting visual aesthetics; however, it wasn't until the sixth
generation, with more powerful consoles, that art direction in games
really started to have a large impact. Ico's large, open, and empty
castle environments, mixed with its great use of lighting and
shadows, come together to give the game an amazing atmosphere. Add in
a sound design that mostly uses ambient sounds while sparingly using
music, and you have a game that gives an overwhelming feeling of
loneliness. You really do feel like you're exploring an abandoned,
decaying ruin of a castle.
The
audio and visual design really do create a tremendous atmosphere.
There is music in the game on occasion; the ending theme is amazing,
and I'm not good at describing music, but the save screen music
sounds like happy childhood memories. When the save screen music
plays, you feel a reassuring air of safety as the music plays. The
game wouldn't be the same without so many small touches in its audio
and visual designs. The developers' meticulous small but hugely
impactful artistic touches in both areas adds so much extra depth to
the player's experience while playing the game.
The core gameplay in
Ico centers around guiding Yorda by the hand while exploring the
ancient castle—solving brain-teasing puzzles along the way,
fighting against a variety of dark spirits who try to kidnap Yorda
and shove her into a portal, upon which time is limited to pull her
out before it's game over—which gives the combat a sense of
urgency, all while traversing multiple areas of the castle and trying
to open the main castle gates to make your escape.
When it comes to the
puzzles, Ico is from the era when developers didn't hold your hand.
It's cut from the same cloth as a game like Tomb Raider or Primal. It
actually gives fewer hints about what to do next than the previously
mentioned Tomb Raider. Does this mean that sometimes the solution to
a puzzle can be quite obscure? Absolutely. This might turn off some
modern gamers who are so used to the hand-holding elements that have
been implemented in gaming since Ico's time. Hand-holding elements,
like cutscenes that play upon entering a room that give the solution
to a puzzle away, or having important objects shine to show the
player they are important, such mechanics do not exist in Ico. The
only hand-holding that occurs is between Ico and Yorda themselves.
I guess to modify what
I said in my Tomb Raider review to fit Ico is to say: the bad thing
about the puzzle elements in Ico is that the game doesn't hold your
hand, but the great thing about the puzzle elements in Ico is that
the game doesn't hold your hand. This is a game that will use quite a
bit more of your problem-solving skills than most others, even for
the time. There is, however, a huge sense of accomplishment when you
figure out the solution to a puzzle on your own. It's a hard-fought
sense of satisfaction you rarely see in gaming anymore.
It had been so long
since I last played through the game that I had forgotten all the
solutions to the puzzles. This was like playing through the game for
the first time again. I did get stumped on a couple of puzzles, but
managed to figure them out eventually. That is, all except one, and
that would be one of the puzzles I mentioned. I caved in and finally
decided to go to GameFAQs because I was close to figuring it out, but
not quite there. However, it was going to GameFAQs that helped me
discover the differences between the NTSC and PAL versions, and also
led me to finding the secret Mace weapon in the game.
In this room here,
most FAQs said just follow the pipes on the ceiling and exit the
room; however, in the PS3 version, the pipes don't lead to the
platform. Instead, there is a switch on one of the platforms that
activates a moving block. I got that far but couldn't figure out what
to do on the moving block. I tried jumping off the block when it was
moving, but it did nothing. I got so annoyed racking my brain over
this puzzle that I took Yorda back to the beginning of the game, put
her back in the cage, and gave up. Well, it turns out I was just
jumping at the wrong time. You have to jump near the bottom when the
block first starts to move. I guess I would have figured it out by
dumb luck eventually, but the FAQs confirmed that I was close to
figuring it out. It also enlightened me on how to get the mace in the
game.
While the castle is
huge, there isn't a lot of extra exploration in the game, but there
are still some hidden rooms here and there. Generally, the game keeps
it simple, with the main focus being the puzzles. This is a puzzle
game above all else. Defending Yorda through combat is a secondary
focus, while the exploration elements revolve around the puzzle
elements. There aren't any arbitrary things to collect in the game,
like coins or gold Skulltulas. Ico is beautifully simplistic and
without a lot of bloat that many other developers would be tempted to
add to the game. It's a game that knows what it wants to achieve and
sticks to it. This is a puzzle game above all else. The entire castle
is a giant puzzle that is solved by solving a series of smaller
puzzles.
Outside of the
puzzles, there is quite a bit of platforming—especially near the
end of the game. The last section of the game is a platforming puzzle
in itself, where players must traverse from platform to platform,
solving some environmental puzzles to figure out where to go next.
Ico makes good use of environmental puzzles throughout the game, with
the ending section being the culmination of all the platforming
skills you learned.
For the platforming
elements, I took to the controls pretty well. I don't know what the
learning curve might be for those with modern sensibilities, however.
Generally, games with fixed camera angles make for overly frustrating
platforming elements, as it feels like the developers purposely
choose the worst camera angles for each jump, but this is not so for
Ico. While I did,
occasionally, find myself missing a simple jump and plummeting to my
death thanks to the camera shifting mid-jump, the devs did a great
job of giving players the best camera angles possible to make jumps
over pits or to chains dangling over those pits. It's not perfect,
but it works great most of the time.
The wall climbing
elements in the game are also done really well and really smoothly.
The jump up in technology from the PS1 to the PS2 helped remove the
clunkiness of similar scenes in PS1 games. Similarly, the climbing
elements—scaling, descending, and swinging on chains—are also
incredibly smooth. While I won't say I never plummeted to my death on
accident, there are a lot of protections in the control scheme to
prevent such incidents, mitigating a lot of frustrating deaths that
occurred in similar games in the previous generation.
The combat in the game is pretty
simplistic. It's the added element of the shadowy figures trying to
kidnap Yorda and stuff her into a portal, mixed with the limited
amount of time you have to pull her back out of that portal, that
gives the combat much of its intensity. Ico has a simple three-button
combo to dispatch his enemies, and there aren't any deep moves like a
dodge feature. To dodge enemy attacks, just move out of the way. I've
seen people say that the combat in the PAL version is more
challenging than the NTSC version because enemies dodge and evade
more, but I find the more aggressive enemies in the NTSC version to
be tougher and more intense to fight against. They attack more often
and even hit Ico when he is on the ground. I think I like the more
aggressive enemies in the NTSC version. Yes, they are easier to hit,
but they also hit Ico more often, meaning the player either has to
move or jump out of the way more. I found it to be way more
challenging.
The Bottom Line: Ico
was that “hidden gem” game that is now, rightfully, taking its
place in the minds of PS2 gamers as a tried-and-true classic. You
really don't need this review to tell you this, as even if you have
never played the game yourself, you've, no doubt, heard about it.
Even the most cynical, contrarian type of gamers should at least play
it once. Beyond being a piece of artwork in motion, it's an excellent
puzzle/adventure game hybrid that would still be a timeless classic,
even without its unique art direction. That's just the icing on the
cake as far as Ico
is concerned. Really, the only big complaint that can be waged about
this game is its short length, where your first run might take you 7
or 8 hours to play through, but every subsequent run will take you
four hours or less. There's even a trophy on the PS3 version for
beating it in under 2 hours. Ico
is a defining achievement of PS2 game development, and it has stood
the test of time as one of the best games on the system. It's one of
those essential PS2 experiences that I think every gamer should
experience. It's seen as a PS2 classic for a reason.
Now, as far as playing
the game in physical form, the PS3 version is the cheapest way to
play it, and it comes with Shadow of the Colossus in the HD
remastered collection. The PS2 version is sitting around $25–$30 as
of making this video, whereas the PS3 version is around $15–$20.
For PS4 and PS5 owners, I looked it up, and if you have a PS Plus
Premium subscription, you can play the game for free, but there
hasn't been a physical re-release of Ico since the PS3.
Near
the end of the PS1's lifetime, tons a cheap budget games were
released. Along side the budget releases, tons of kids games were
released as well. The thought process behind this was Dad or older
bother bought a PS2, and gave son or little brother their old PS1.
There was blues clues, Land Before Time, Casper, Bratz, etc and etc
released near the end of the system's life. And while Spin Jam has
the appearance of a budget title released for kids to play, one poor
design decision keeps it from being that puzzle game your kid brother
could enjoy.
Spin
Jam takes it's cues from Puzzle Bobble/Bust a move in that it has the
same connect three of the same colored bubbles on the play field to
make them disappear. The catch is, when you activate three bubbles of
the same color, you have a small time count down till the bubbles pop
which causes bubbles directly across from the popping bubbles to fly
off the playing field toward colored flower peddles outside the
field. The point is to match the color of the bubbles to the color of
the pedals in order for the bubbles to be caught by the pedal. Hit
the pedal with enough bubbles, and the pedal bursts. For the rainbow
colored pedals, all colors of bubbles can be used to pop them. There
are also various powerups that appear on the field some are helpful
like bombs that explode to destroy more bubbles on the field, while
other are harmful like one that slows or even reverses your movement.
If
the field fills up with bubbles to the point they reach outside,
those bubbles then become poisonous, and start infecting the bubbles
around them. If the poisonous bubbles reach the center, it's game
over. In order to stop the poisonous bubbles, you need to launch them
off the play-field to shake the poison off of them, and transform
them back to their original colors.
It
takes a bit to learn, but once you get the hang of it, the game is,
surprisingly addictive. I've had a ton of fun playing this game. One
final gameplay element that I learned, only after reading the game's
manual, because there is no indication of having this ability in the
game is, is the blitz attack. As you pop bubbles and pedals in the
game the launcher tube on the top right or bottom right of the
screen, depending on which mode you are playing, will fill up with a
blue bar. When the power gauge on the launcher fills up holding the X
button with either launch a barrage of bombs to clear the playing
field in the arcade mode (this is helpful in the case that the poison
bubbles are about to reach the center and cause a game over), or will
unleash a blitz attack on your opponent in verses mode. When hit with
a blitz attack, for a limited time, the flower pedals on you
opponent's playing field turn clear, preventing them from being
popped to send more bubbles and traps your way.
The
game offers an arcade mode which is sort of the endless mode. The
arcade mode rules are simple, keep playing each level until you pop
all the pedals on the outside of the play field and you move to the
next level. As in tetris, the game starts throwing more at you at a
faster rate the higher the level. When you run out of continues, yes,
continues in the endless mode, your game is over. The arcade mode is
really fun and it gets difficult pretty quickly.
The
verses mode is you and a friend duking it out for trash talking
rights. You can even get a couple of friends in on the action and
make your own friendly tournament out of it. Most of the replay value
for the game lies here in the multiplayer aspect and the arcade mode.
The
final mode is the story mode. It's sort of like the fighting game
portion where you take on every character in the game in verses mode
trying to work your way up to Moonlabs, the end boss. The problem
being, for no good reason, there are no continues whatsoever in this
mode. That's right, the arcade mode give players 4 continues, but, by
design, the story mode give you one life, and no continues going
against some of the most merciless opponents in a puzzle game I have
ever played.
At
first, I didn't know about blitz attack, I just knew that my
opponents would do it to me. I thought I was just terrible at the
game, which I'm certainly not great by any stretch. I failed dozens
of times trying to beat the story mode on Easy difficulty. Yes, easy
difficulty. When I discovered the Blitz attack, I was like, “Oh
that's how you're supposed to do beat them,” but nope, still no
chance. I've beaten a few of them, but the brain-dead idea of giving
you no continues in the story mode and having cutthroat opponents,
even on easy difficulty makes the story mode Impossible for me to
beat, even once. I won't say the game is impossible to beat, but it
is impossible for me to beat.
I
have spent an entire day trying to beat what looks to be a children's
puzzle game to no avail. One mess up, and you are kicked back out to
the title screen. I have had fun playing the story mode, and have
gotten relatively far into it, but the lack of even so much as one
continue makes completing the story mode brutally hard, and for no
reason. The game didn't have to be this hard, especially on easy
mode. I know I'm not the best at it, but I've spent an entire day
trying to beat the story mode, and I give up. I will never beat it,
and without the use of an action replay, will never be able to unlock
any of the hidden characters in the game either.
It's
a shame, because the rest of the game is a ton of fun. This is a well
made, addictive puzzler with charming 2D sprite graphics, tight
controls, well done sound effects, and music that is well done but
also low key enough that I had to go back and play the game again to
notice it which is perfect for a puzzle game like this. It's well
composed enough that you can listen to it for hours and it doesn't
get old but also isn't a distraction. It's just kind of there.
This
is a fun game that's still around the $10 asking price with shipping
on ebay. The arcade mode and the verses against a friend modes are
the parts where you'll get your cheap money's worth out of this game.
If they story mode wasn't made stupidly hard thanks to one bad design
choice, I would herald this game as an underrated puzzle gem. It is
fun, it is well design, and it is worth it for cheap, I just wish the
developers wouldn't have completely hampered the overall experience
with a mostly impossible story mode. As it stands, this isn't the
underrated gem it could have been, it's a flawed game that still has
some really fun parts to it. If you find it in the bargain bin it's
worth playing, especially if you have a friend to play against. Spin
Jam is a fun, but flawed game.
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