Nicolas Mota

It's a masterpiece. One of the best and most original games of the generation. And now it's getting a sequel!

One of the best games of 2022. Basically an experience that is like what we probably would get if Stanley Kubrik made a game.

You might like it more if you have no frame of reference for anything like it, and nothing else to play. Otherwise, there's like a 90% chance that you're going to quit it. Maybe you'll quit it and think "well it was good, but I want to play something else", and think generally positively of it. I'm just saying, maybe skip a step and play the other thing you were interested in. Unless you just really wanna literally run in circles and shoot glowy bits, or other glowy bits. Get that chicken dinner.

It's a well made adaptation, and it encompasses the 90s sci-fi vibe of the original very well. (Think Fifth Element, etc) A lot of the negative scores are basically "the original anime is good, and this isn't better, so it's bad!". If you don't think not surpassing one of the most acclaimed series of all time equates to "bad", give it a go.

Nine years later and this movie is still killin' it. It's strongest aspect being it's precision writing all the way through, which I'd say really shines on the subsequent watches. Emily Blunt's performance is probably the best (and adds to her rather diverse filmography), but it's STILL trippy as hell to see Joseph Gordon Levitt playing a younger Bruce Willis. Another strong aspect is it's relatively balanced and/or grounded special effects. At least in September 2021, they still hold up pretty well.

I'm into it. Deep sea sci-fi is really cool, and this movie does it well. Stewart does a solid Ellen Ripley. I don't really know what people wanted/expected. Did they want hard sci-fi? Did they want more of a spooky monster flick? I know I already compared this to Alien with the Ellen Ripley thing, but did people want something more Alien-y (horror)? or Aliens-y (action)? What I'm getting at is that this movie is good *because* it didn't do either of those things.

I didn't play the first game, so I'm really glad this one has a quick recap that allows it to be enjoyed without FOMO. The worlds are fantastically designed with that Tim Burton-esque swagger. The themes this game covers also makes it a little more (mentally) engaging than your typical 3D platformer/action-platformer.

I started playing this game as a palate cleanse between other games, but got really into it. Great for playing in sessions because the start of each chapter includes a quick recap of the previous. The plot gets campy but I was so interested in the characters that I really didn't care about the camp at all.

I'm giving it a 5 because I can't do 4.5. TLDR: 9/10, best cyberpunk game I've played. Review: This is the best cyberpunk game I've played to date, and it helped me come to the realization that this isometric perspective is probably the best for a game in a cyberpunk setting. Even though I know a bunch of people will automatically dismiss it for it. The game's protagonist is canonically a nobody indent(ured servant), so they won't be stealing the show or anything, and so the world itself winds up being your focus as you make your way through it. The world building is great in this game, and they've put a lot of work into building all sorts of lore/moments along the way, making it all feel very lived in and memorable at the end of it all, including some fairly irrelevant but fun bits. The gameplay is solid twin stick action. As far as I could tell, you can more or less create the sort of build you enjoy the most, and there's some very fun weapons in the mix, including a weaponized sex toy. Up until the end of the game there will be a mix of higher leveled enemies scattered in more or less every area, which will help keep the threat of danger alive as you try to explore the various regions. Some people complain about this, but I think it's important to creating a lived in world. It also means sometimes you'll have to return to areas later to finish exploring. **One negative, outside of launch bugs (many have been patched), is that there's no warning when you're not far enough along in the main storyline to access areas for side quests. Which makes sense, since your AI companion wouldn't really be aware of that. But this is worth warning because you might try to pursue a quest, walk and fight for several minutes, only to learn you can't get to where you want to go. So if your main quest hasn't taken you into the approximate area, maybe wait on pursuing those quests. All in all, if you're not immediately put off just by it's genre and/or perspective, then it's a very solid twin stick action game, with RPG elements. If you love cyberpunk stories/themes/settings, then there's a good chance you'll really enjoy this game, and you're sure to feel the love the devs themselves must have for the genre.

Quite possibly my favorite JRPG ever. Felt a lot like a JRPG from the "golden age" of JRPGs, while still offering a distinctly fresh experience. That means it's combat takes awhile to learn, but once you got the hang of it, it's super engaging and rewarding. The story starts off like JRPG comfort food, familiar but enjoyable, but over time it really shows that it was far more thought out than anyone would rightfully expect from the genre nowadays. From start to finish, everything ties into the one coherent objective one way or another, which makes for a good time with great momentum. Despite being "XC2", it can be played whenever, as it's a standalone story, but also builds into an overarching canon. And in that regard, this game does more to build a possible future for the series, than the Xenoblades that came before. It's now the series I look forward to most.