Recent reviews by SecondBestOne

Never before have I died so many times during a game's end credits.

This is exactly what a Guardians of the Galaxy - and, frankly, a Marvel - game should be.

Linear in structure and yet feels modern in design - it feels like if Mass Effect were reimagined in 2021 and stripped of its RPG elements, every single design decision based around "is this fun?". In 2021, a game being wholly linear, no side quests, no open world, somehow feels like a brave decision. It feels like a throwback to 10-15 years ago. But it feels like a breath of fresh air with so many expansive open worlds to explore for a game to limit itself like that. Just because you can't *literally* get lost in this world, doesn't mean it doesn't feel like you could. If anything, the writing and world-building is all the stronger for not being able to rely on that.

Graphically, it looks great, the cinematography and animations are excellent (as ever from Eidos/Crystal) and it runs well - around 100-120 FPS at max on a system hitting the recommended requirements. And it's super stable so far, unlike the Avengers game which seems to crash every 20 minutes for me.

For me the standout feature, though, is the dialogue. As far as I can tell, it's fairly dynamic and conversations feel naturally interrupted by discoveries on your path. So many games you feel the need to stop in case you accidentally walk into a cutscene and never hear the end of a conversation - but it feels natural here, and characters might even pick up old conversations later on. I'm not sure I've come across that before, or at least not done so well. Dialogue choices are also clearly highlighted - so you know exactly what you're choosing to say. I have yet to finish the game, but so far (after 4 and a bit chapters) choices make some differences to events during chapters but don't seem to sway the direction of the overall narrative. Whether there are multiple endings is something I will have to remember to update here when I get there.

But, to conclude, this is a great game. And even if you didn't like last year's Avengers game, I'd still give this a shot. There was a decent game desperately trying to shine through in the Avengers, but here it's all plain to see.

Pretty easy game. Whole thing is on rails

A not particularly challenging but fun off-road racing game. This is a game that just wants you to enjoy it, and winning races is just a bonus. It looks great and the cars are fun to drive. If you're looking for a fun racing game to distract you from all the nonsense then look no further.

You're probably wondering if you should buy and play A Plague Tale.

The answer is yes.

The Pope is an atheist, England is just separate independent duchies all fighting each other at once and nobody in Tuscany wears clothes now.

Oh, and Lombardy keeps invading every 5 years.

10/10

It's a bit, uhh, crashy. But when it works, I've enjoyed it. It seems a decent action/adventure game - nothing setting the world alight so far. If you've played the 2013 Tomb Raider then you'll find much of it familiar, though the combat reminds me more of AC Odyssey. I loved both of those games - so, like I said, I'm enjoying it.

And if it could stop crashing so frequently, that would be lovely.