I thought I'd sign-off the year with a "What I've Been Playing" post and small update. I haven't been able to play a lot of the year's releases due to life and the fact that I still need to finish up my backlog of games. Also, I don't have as much time as I used to, which is why there were less reviews in previous years. At the moment, I'll be taking things slow and review games in these form of posts. I still enjoy playing and writing about games and will hopefully continue to do so in the future since there's a bunch of games I want to review and talk about! There were a lot of games that I missed out on this year that I hope to play in coming months, so stay tuned for that. For now here are the game I've been recently playing and happy gaming!
Murdered: Soul Suspect (PS4)
A murder-mystery game where we follow a detective Ronan O'Connor who must solve the his murder at the hands of the "Bell Killer" a serial killer whose been terrorizizng the town of Salem. Now a ghost, he'll have to uncover the killer's identity and move on to the next life. Joining him is spirit medium Joy, who occasionally helps out Ronan to find out her mother's whereabouts. The story was a good one, as I enjoyed the unique premise of being a ghost and the characters were decent as well, Ronan and Joy's chemistry being a highlight.
Murdered is an adventure game where you control Ronan as you explore Salem, looking for clues on the Bell Killer. As a ghost, you have special powers like going through most walls and objects, revealing hidden pathways, teleporting between areas, and even possessing and reading people's thoughts. The main enemies are demons, who can consume Ronan's soul if caught. As such, you'll need to sneak your way and execute them from behind. Sadly, that's all there is for the combat since the game never develops past that. What also sucks were the lack of enemy variety. Salem acts as a hub world, connecting you to levels like the museum, police station, and cemetery to name a few. You'll be constantly back-tracing between areas and a map feature would've been handy in knowing where you are. Still, the town's jam-packed with collectables like flashback of Ronan's past and info on the Bell Killer, encouraging you to explore around a bit. It took around 8 hours to beat, with little replay-value aside from collectables. Basically, if you've played it once chances are you won't be playing it again.
Visually, Murdered looks decent being a late PS3/early PS4 game. Character models and backgrounds were good as was the lighting of the town, though NPC faces are copy-and-pasted. There were some glitches like pop-in textures and objective marker that wouldn't go away, but the game ran fine. The voicework was great and the demon sound design was unsettling as well. As for the soundtrack, it was good and complimented Salem's eerie nature.
Murdered: Soul Suspect was a nice detective adventure as the story was interesting to unravel and character being likeable enough. Gameplay could've seen more polished as the concept of being a ghost has a lot of potential. Despite some shortcomings, the presentation was good though nothing special. Overall, if you're in the mood for a short but interesting detective story, then the game is worth a look considered it's cheap nowadays.
Pokemon Sword (NSW)
The most divisive set of games in the series yet, Pokemon Sword/Shield were the first mainline games for the Nintendo Switch back in 2019. Featuring a new region to explore, new gameplay additions, and a slew of controversy with cut-content and rushed development that didn't receive a warm welcome. So after finally getting the chance to play Pokemon Sword, was it as bad as some claimed it would be?
Taking place in the European-inspired Galar region, we follow a young trainer as they take on the Pokemon Gym Challenge, where they must battle various Pokemon trainers in the region to reach the current champion, Leon. Joining the adventure is your rival and Leon brother, Hop, who aspires to be the next champion; and Sonia, a researcher who's uncovering Galar's history. Being a Pokemon game, the story was basic with the same expected twists and villains, it was decent and nothing to write home about, especially since the villain was nonexistent.
Pokemon Sword doesn't change the foundations of the series in terms of gameplay. It's still your RPG adventure where you choose a starter Pokemon, in this case: the fire type Scorbunny, grass type Grookie, and water type Sobble, to battle trainers across the region and collect Pokemon. A new mechanic is "Dynamax", a state where Pokemon can grow to gigantic sizes when battling in stadiums. They get increased health, resistance, and attack boosts, though all these benefits last for only three turns. Another addition is a huge open-area called "Wild Area" that you freely explore and catch wandering Pokemon while also participating in raid events with other players. These have you and other players battling a Dynamax Pokemon in exchange for loot and the chance to catch them. Camping is another cool feature I liked as you get to interact with your Pokemon and give them food, which increase their stats. I spent a lot of time in the Wild Area since I enjoyed the exploration and Pokemon to catch, here's hoping it'll be staple in the next games.
Like in Pokemon Sun/Moon, gyms feature a mission-based structure,as each gym tasks you with solving water puzzles, answering quiz questions, and rounding up sheep before facing off with the gym leader. They're far more interesting than beating a bunch of trainers in past gyms and added variety to the gameplay. Each gym has its own type such as fire, water, and grass, and choosing either the right or wrong match-up can make things either easy or a tad too difficult. Legendary Pokemon aside, Sword and Shield feature a few different Pokemon and two exclusive gym trainers in each game. The cut-content in the form of missing Pokemon and rushed development are the games biggest drawbacks, as the Wild Area (while still cool) could've used more polish and optimization on handheld mode.
Visually, Sword looks good with the designs of the gym leaders and new Pokemon being cool. Places like Ballonlea town were beautiful to look at as well. Sadly, the game loses visual quality in handheld mode and the Wild Area doesn't look all that great with blurry models and constant pop-in textures. The soundtrack was my favorite aspect of Sword and I enjoyed hearing many of its tracks. Standouts were Hop's theme, Bede's theme, Ballonlea, Spikemuth, and Stadium themes.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with Pokemon Sword though it's nothing special compared to Pokemon Black/White (my favorite in the series). The game took around 25 hours to beat and the post-game content was good as you get a new quest continuing after the game, catch new Pokemon, and battling harder trainers. I feel that Pokemon Sword/Shield didn't deserve some of the hate it got, yet Game Freak should be called out for rushing their games. I'm still interested in the DLC expansions, but I'll be taking a break for now.
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