The Boyce of Reason

Man, I really wanted to love this game. I enjoyed the first one so much and figured they'd expand on that and make something even better but sadly this felt like a low effort, barebones sequel. I played the story mode (tutorial) and chaos theory but gave up on it when a bug occurred where my dinosaurs comfort level suddenly kept going down despite me giving it everything they need. The dinosaurs stopped recognising water and plants so got unhappy and kept breaking out. Hours of gametime wasted. Before the glitch/bug I was already getting a bit bored of it. The scientist management system (making sure they got regular rests) wasn't fun. Having to re-research everything in each mission wasn't fun. And the storms destroying everything wasn't fun. I think it had potential but didn't fulfil it. At least the dinosaurs looked awesome! And the voice acting and music was very good.

I was pleasantly surprised by this game and how much I enjoyed it. I absolutely loved the original Dead Space games, and also loved the remake and so I was excited by the trailers for this game as it looked very similar. When I read the reviews the game scored pretty average which stopped be buying it brand new. I managed to get a second hand copy for PS5 off of Ebay for about £12. Firstly I was impressed by the graphics, the game looks really good. I enjoyed the acting performances from all involved. The atmosphere was incredible at times. And the music and sound was great. The gameplay was fun, if not pretty repetitive. The fighting and shooting mechanics were easy to figure out, but it never feels quite as smooth as Dead Space. Sometimes it can feel a bit clunky, especially if there are numerous enemies. There are a mixture of enemy types but you pretty much deal with them the same way. The same goes for the Boss fights. It's a case of dodging attacks and then hitting them with your stun baton or shooting them with a gun. It's very repetitive but also satisfying. The game is very linear, with very little in the way of exploration. There is the occasional alternate path for extra loot and collectibles but that's about it. You get a variety of weapons (2 pistols, 2 shotguns, and an assault rifle) as well as an anti-gravity ability to pick up and throw enemies or objects. You can also upgrade all of these things. I ended up maxing out the starting pistol (hand cannon) and the 2 shotguns and easily complete the game. The game is pretty short so loses marks for that. I did as much exploring as possible but completed it within a day or two (about 12 hours in total) The story was interesting enough although not terribly original. And the ending is pretty cliche and uninspiring. I didn't find the enemies particularly scary. Dead Space does a better job in this regard as well as doing a better job building tension and the jump scares. I didn't find the game scary, just atmospheric Overall this game was a pleasant surprise. Perhaps I went in with lower expectations which helped me be more impressed. I managed to complete it on medium difficulty without too many problems. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Dead Space (which is still the better game)

Ah man. What a disappointment. The good: Graphics and voice acting are amazing. Soundtrack and music is great. Game mechanics are fine. The bad: The story is bad. It makes the events of the first game now mean nothing. I loved the first game because of the relationship between Ellie and Joel. After what happened at the end of the first game I wanted to see how their relationship developed. I wanted to find out what would happen if Ellie found out the truth. This sequel only touches upon it through the odd flashback parts of the game and sadly that wasn't enough. I found the levels/chapters didn't vary enough. All of the environment and scenery is pretty similar all the way through. Run down towns, dark buildings, delapidated cars, grass everywhere...it got pretty boring at times. There are odd moments in towns, in the snow or on a farm where it mixes it up a bit but generally I just remember a lot of greys and greens. I massively disliked having to be forced to play as a new character that had just done some really bad stuff to my two favourite characters. I didn't like having to hunt down the very people I enjoyed playing with in the first game. But not only did I not want to play with the new character as I had no emotional attachment to her but her actual story did nothing for me. It was a slog. And even by the end when they try to humanise the new character I still didn't care for her. This whole game is about revenge and by the end you will just feel drained. It is a dark, bleak, depressing story and some parts of the game go on too long. I played the first game 4-5 times but can't see myself playing this one again anytime soon. The game is pretty repetitive. You go somewhere, you flush out an area of baddies (I did it stealth) and then you explore and loot. Then you get to another area and do the same. Only difference is sometimes its infected, sometimes its humans. Just a big disappointment.