Tough one to score... on the plus side, phenomenal technology and art direction makes for a truly beautiful world and some gobsmacking character models, particularly during dialogue. And the combat, while repetitive, is basically OK. On the minus side, god, it was boring, walking around listening to all those voices. No doubt that's supposed to make me sympathize with psychotic folk, but she could at least get her jog on while she's being psychotic; a game can be ruined by a slow move speed, and even with the 'run' button it's still very dull moving back and forth in each area to solve the let's-be-honest-pretty-simple puzzles. And it's a shame the puzzles are simple, as some of the mechanics would bear a lot more weight. The story is Meaningful and Emotional in the extreme; Time To First Stab is over 20 minutes, and Time Between Stabs approaches that on occasion. Ultimately, I'm scoring it based on prettiness and overall effect, but be warned, this is not the sword-swinging game of fun murder you might have expected from Ninja Theory, and I rather hope they find a better use for their awe-inspiring tech now that they've gotten this out of their system.
So itchily addictive! Every time I die I feel determined rather than angry.
Striking as hell in the opening sections, Headlander's aesthetic is spectacular but a bit vacant, and the game itself is a touch repetitive. The script is... alright? Certainly not stunningly funny. And the story is uninteresting and told largely in a giant infodump at the end; it probably reads better on paper. Not awful, certainly, but only sporadically marvellous, and with long boring patches. I'm not sure if I can recommend it except on principle as something to keep Double Fine going while they try to improve.
