Recent reviews by ParanoidAndroid

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I played my first Yakuza game in 2019, starting with 0, and blazed through them. There was nothing else I had played like them. Incredibly dense with a ton of content and the neck-breaking whiplash between the deathly serious melodrama of the main story compared to the zany side content. From the sublime to the ridiculous. Naturally, when Judgment (and its sequel, Lost Judgment, were finally announced for PC, I knew I had to try it.

Judgment is quite comparable gameplay-wise to Yakuza 0-6 with a new protagonist in the form of former defense attorney turned detective Takayuki Yagami. I really enjoyed Yagami and the supporting cast members and thought that there was really good energy and connection between them. I don’t want to get into story specifics, but I thought the main story of Judgment was excellent. There was good amount of twists without being ridiculous and everything made sense. As for the side content and substories, I found them to be good not great. There were some fun substories (the Pervert Trio being the standout for me) but most just didn’t have as many off the wall personalities as I was hoping for.

My biggest gripe with Judgment is easily the tailing missions. They go on entirely too long and feel more tedious than anything. I would actively avoid doing activities that required doing this. My only other complaint would be that as much as I really enjoyed the story, it definitely drags in the middle chapters. It gets bogged down in things that I believe should have been optional, but again I overall really enjoyed the story.

Judgment is an easy recommendation for me and I think it great for those who have either played all of the Yakuza games or are a newcomer to the series, as you don’t need to have any prior knowledge to play. I look forward to playing Lost Judgment as Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio really knocked it out of the park with this one, as they usually do.

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The first time I saw the trailer for Viewfinder, I thought it had the potential to be something truly special. Lucky for us, it’s one for the books.

The central mechanic for Viewfinder is that you can hold up any picture or photograph to the environment and when you let go, the picture will imprint itself into the environment, even the depth of what was in said picture. This can manifest itself in a myriad of ways and it’s honestly astounding how it works. Giving the player this amount of creativity and non-linear solutions with manipulating the geometry of levels and not breaking the game is worthy of applause in and of itself. Levels are divided up much like test chambers in Portal, speaking of which, I would put Viewfinder’s mechanic in the same class as the Portal Gun, Gravity Gun from Half-Life and the GLUU Gun from Prey. It’s honestly that impressive.

The game constantly throws new mechanics and nuances and builds on them in a way that makes this a tight, perfectly paced package. The game does not overstay its welcome at all, and honestly I wouldn’t have minded it being just a touch longer, something I never say about game lengths these days.

I don’t really want to go into discrete puzzles or what the game throws at you since I believe it is best to be experienced yourself. That said, I had multiple moments solving a puzzle and saying to myself “That’s f*cking cool.”

I personally think Viewfinder is amongst the pantheon of great puzzle games. The only thing that I would say holds it back is its story. It’s coming from a good place and has a good message, I just didn’t find the characters interesting enough or the narrator to be as witty as say a Stanley Parable or Portal 2. But realistically, you’re coming here for the puzzle elements, and Viewfinder is special in that regard. If you in any way have an interest in the genre then Viewfinder is an absolute must-play and my contender for GOTY thus far.

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GYLT is the latest game from Tequila Works (of Deadlight and RiME fame), that thrusts you into the role of Sally, a young girl looking for her lost cousin Emily. The game takes place in a town where everyone has vanished, save for the monsters that roam the streets and inhabit the buildings. The gameplay is a mix of stealth and puzzle adventure, with elements heavily inspired by Alan Wake with the use of a flashlight against enemies and more often running or hiding from enemies than facing them head on. I found some of the monster designs to be pretty good and there’s a couple legitimate creepy moments in the game. I’d also like to highlight the game's use of light as an indicator of where to proceed next, which felt organic in the sense that it wasn’t holding my hand but I also never felt lost as to where to go.

I found that the story and messaging had their heart in the right place, if not a bit wrought. I enjoyed my time with GYLT, and while it did not bring a ton of new ideas to the table, I think it executed what it set out to do fairly well. While I’m not sure I’d recommend this at full price, I think it should definitely be on everyone’s radar during a sale.

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What an absolute delight of a game! Here Comes Niko! is an inviting, warm 3D platformer collectathon. There's not a ton of challenge to be had here but it's a fun world to be in with a delightful cast of characters and some genuine wit. I think it's one of the rare games where I would have actually liked more levels to explore. While I beat the game in about 3.5 hours, I can definitely see myself going back to potentially 100% it. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Here Comes Niko! and hope that it has enough success so that the developers can expand upon its foundation on what ever they do next. Not much more to say here, two big thumbs up.

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Oh Gotham Knights…a game that just can’t get out of its own way.

When I first started playing Gotham Knights, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I was enjoying it based off of the initial wave of critic and fan backlash. However, the more I played on, the more the cracks started to show.

First off the gear system. This was what a lot of people initially got riled up about but it honestly didn’t bother me that much. Is it needed? Of course not. Does it hamper my enjoyment? No, not really. It’s a minor annoyance at worst and shouldn’t be the focus of any hate in my opinion.

I actually really enjoyed the suit crafting and being able to customize aspects of each suit. That along with the ability to switch between characters ensures that the look and playstyle don’t ever get boring. Batwoman and Robin were definitely the most enjoyable characters to play as for me with Nightwing following and Red Hood a distant fourth. The focus on shooting just doesn’t work nearly as well in this game. At first for me the combat felt way too loose as I, like everyone, was used to the snappy, lock-on of previous Arkham games however with time this felt more natural. Looking back it was a bit odd to have batman snap and do a 180 jump all the way across the arena to another enemy. This style of combat flows much better and dodging while getting hits in feels great.By the end unfortunately, enemies feel a bit too spongy which can lead fights to drag on a bit, which is unfortunate as the combat is the best part of the game for me.

Another odd design choice is locking traversal behind a set of challenges. Batwoman can’t even glide until these are completed. I don’t understand why those were not unlocked from the beginning.


Overall I found the story to be serviceable, if not wholly predictable. I actually found the three side stories (Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze and Clayface) to have much better writing and characterization than the main story which is unfortunate.

Graphically, the game looks fine and sometimes great, but it should definitely look better. People saying this looks like a PS3 era game are delusional but it does look like something that could have been on PS4. I tried multiple scenes and locations and honestly couldn’t tell a difference between when ray tracing was on or off, which is peculiar.

Ultimately, despite my gripes, I still recommend Gotham Knights and most of that is because I just enjoyed the minute-to-minute gameplay so much and when the combat clicks it really works. This game clearly has some warts but if you are willing to go in with proper expectations and grab it on a sale, I definitely think it’s worth your time.

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This review is solely for the single player Campaign.

As a true sicko who only plays Call of Duty for the campaign, the 2019 return of Modern Warfare was a highpoint for the franchise which had had some subpar campaigns. The sequel follows up that success with another terrific entry.

The gunplay is super tight and guns have properly weighty punch to them. Overall, there’s really just an astounding level of polish on the game from the slick reload animations to the incredible detail in the cutscenes, this entry truly feels like a blockbuster. As such, when Call of duty is at it’s best it feels like a summer action movie and Modern Warfare II fits that bill perfectly with excellent pacing and varied locals and mission structure. This also has probably my favorite cast of characters and the best story since Infinite Warfare’s criminally underrated campaign. With the report that there will be no new standalone title next year but instead a campaign add on, I’m very intrigued to see the continuation of this story after the conclusion of the campaign.

On a technical note, the game was a bit of a mess even on my Ryzen 5600x and RTX 3080, however after the most recent driver release it runs great. I got around 150 FPS at 1440p with everything on Ultra and it looks phenomenal.

If you enjoyed the 2019 entry, then this one is a no brainer and brings even more to the table than its predecessor.

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First off, what a stellar name. Rollerdrome. It’s evocative and bold.

Rollerdrome has you playing the roll of Kara Hassan who has to quite literally skate-or-die, for the enjoyment of corporate overlords. The game wears its inspirations on its sleeve with a mashup of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and bullet time a la Max Payne. It’s a novel idea that I think works very well.

To replenish ammo you must do tricks which turns into this dance of shooting enemies but also making sure that you squeeze in a nosegrind to refill your double pistols or rocket launcher. I think the minute to minute gameplay is quite engaging and can get quite hectic towards the end, in an exhilarating way. I do wish that I didn’t have to fight with the camera as much as I did, but other than that I think the game really accomplishes what it set out to do.

I also really appreciated the inclusion of the assist options. Like Tony Hawk, each level contains objectives that you must complete a certain number of before you can proceed to the next stage. One of the assist options includes turning that requirement off, so you don’t have to grind those objectives if you do get stuck. There’s a number of other assist options, which is a big plus in my book as I am an advocate of letting people play how they want.

While the regular price may be a tad high in my opinion, I would have no reservation recommending Rollerdrome on a sale. It’s a unique game and one that is definitely worth your time.

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The Legend of Tianding is a side-scrolling beat-em-up, metroidvania-lite that I really enjoyed. Coming from developer Creative Games Computer Graphics Corporation, their freshman effort is surprisingly polished and a great first effort out of the gate.

You play as the titular Liao Tianding, a Taiwanese Folk Hero, as you fight against the oppressive Japanese set in the early 20th century. The first thing that caught my eye was the comic book-style presentation, which I found to be quite effective. Backgrounds look great and the comic panel interstitials to convey the story were beautifully drawn.It’s here where really my main complaint comes in; I wish the characters were also 2D instead of 3D. It’s a minor gripe but one that I think would have made the presentation and art style more cohesive overall.

Gameplay is pretty straightforward, you gain more attacks and abilities as the game goes on as well as the ability to steal your enemy’s weapons, which can introduce a bit of strategy into fights. I found the story to be just ok and the presentation of it to be a bit overly long at times considering the genre of game that is. That said, I can appreciate the studio wanting to tell their story and its certainly great to get games from places we don’t normally, like Taiwan.

I finished the game in a hair under 4 hours with minimal side quests done, so this seems like one that would best be gotten on a sale. That said though, I really enjoyed my time with The Legend of Tianding and will definitely be keeping an eye on what the studio does next.

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Playing Road 96 struck me as a group of developers that figured out the next step in the direction that TellTale Games was taking adventure games.

TellTale hit it big with The Walking Dead game and had subsequent hits (including my favorite, Wolf Among Us) by delivering narrative-driven, choice-oriented games. Digixart took that baton and ran with it with Road 96.

Road 96 is set in the fictional country of Petria in an alternate 1996, where a tyrant rules with an iron fist and teens are scrambling for the border. You take the role of the many teens who are trying to escape. The game takes a rogue-like approach where each run is different with a different teen that you control on your mission to the border. Not every attempt to make it may be successful, however. Myself, I escaped three times, died once and was captured once. Each of these runs builds off each other as you meet and interact with seven different groups of people, slowly peeling away at their backstories and learning more about the web of connections between everyone.

On a gameplay level, you come to different rest stops, motel, etc and scrounge for any money or food that you can get your hands on. As you progress, you'll earn abilities that will let you hack into a safe or give you lockpicking skills, letting you explore further. There’s also a good amount of mini games that keep the gameplay fresh and break up the core scavenging that you’re doing.

I don’t want to speak too much on specifics as I found that going in blind was really the best way to do it, but Road 96 feels like a game where your choices actually make a difference and influence the outcome of the story. I applaud the developers at Digixart for creating a compelling game that breathes fresh air into the modern adventure genre. If you’ve enjoyed the TellTale games or other narrative-driven modern adventure games, Road 96 is a must play.

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Wow. This game has more creativity than most games could wish to muster!

El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron is a game that I always read about on Gamefaqs and other message boards but never played due to physical copies being very hard to find and a bit obscure. Luckily, it has found its way to Steam so it can reach the masses.

The game follows the biblical protagonist Enoch who is in search of the fallen angels.To say that this game has style would be an understatement. It’s watercolor-like, painterly graphics immediately catch your eye and the environmental breadth is certainly impressive. The game is a treat to look at and has a stellar soundtrack to boot.

El Shaddai, while not as complex as say a Devil May Cry, is still a satisfying character-action game at its core with multiple weapons to keep encounters fresh. The inclusion of inventive loading screens and 2D sections, I’m sure novel for the time, are still a nice change of pace today. I was really impressed with how the game holds up today.

Really, my only gripe with El Shaddai is that the port is fairly barebones and graphics options are limited. A slight blemish on an otherwise great experience.

As someone with absolutely zero nostalgia for the original release, I found El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron to be a wonderful romp and one that I would heartily recommend if you can overlook its technical shortcomings.