Better writing! Better structure! More focus! The character bio and GUI look fantastic! No goofy looking cat woman design! Please bring more Warner Bros games like Shadow of Mordor! We love you, GOG!
The Shenmue series is super meaningful to me and my wife as it got us through some extremely dark times in our life. When your faced with the possibliltiy of losing a loved one the last thing you want to play is a survival horror game or FPS. We needed something peaceful in our lives to get our minds off of ourselves and our problems. Shemue was that perfect distraction. Others will hate this game, becasue it's Shenmue. But for me there is a kind of gentle humor to the way Yu Suzuki created these characters. I would gladly choose the Shemue games over other gentle games like Journey, Flower, or Abzu, because they just don't present the same little quirks that give Ryo and his associates such personality. People like Ben Yatzhee Croshaw (and other reviewers who bash this game) can't appreciate something like this, because they have entitlement issues as well as they've most likely never truely come face-to-face with mortality. I've been a gamer since I was a little boy, and eventhough there are better games out there (like the Yakuza series) they don't provide the same gentle and quirk personality of the Shenmue series. Everything today is so "in your face." It's all about seeking the latest thrill or the highest high. You will not get that from the Shenmue series. In fact, if that is what you are after then stay far away from Shenmue. But if you want to play a game that is gentle and you enjoy subtle and most likely unintentional humor. Then I do recommend the Shenmue games. P.S. Thankfully my wife is doing much better healthwise and we still are enjoying the Shenmue games P.S.S. "Do you know where I can find... any other... Chinese people?"-Ryo at the Chinese Restaraunt. :)
...a Fallout game. I started playing this game with Expedition installed, so I can't speak for the vanilla version of this game. I love that there is no voice acting! (looking at you Wasteland 3 and your Borderlands humor) I love that the game forces min-max your character! (your decisions actually matter unlike Plague Tale) I love that this game doesn't have elves, orcs, or ogres! (I hate you Shadowrun for ruining cyberpunk) I love the music in this game (Junkyard theme is so good! South Gate Station could've been better) I love the combat! (It's actually better than Fallout and way better than Planescape's) I love the dialogue! (It's no Planescape: Torment, but better than your last Wednesday's D&D session) I love the difficulty (It's like a dungeon master whose obsessed with killing you) I love that the maps don't look like a blank Starcraft map editor (Honestly, Arcanum did you even try?) Between the metro, harvesting mushrooms, pig farms, STALKERs, mutants, rival factions, the only thing this game is missing is Russian names and places to be a true Metro cRPG. Sure, it looks like Fallout, but it has way more in common with Metro 2033 (the book, not the game). Buy it!
I liked the more Shinji Mikami-in-your-face of the first game. It had more enemy variety with crazy diverse level designs that were literally schizophrenic. However, I really did enjoy this game even though it felt more AAA than the first one. The story still makes no sense, but I got 56hrs out of level grinding for synaptic focus (bullet time), so I got my money's worth. Word of warning! Survival mode is too easy! Play at least Nightmare for the true survival experience.
Never played Commandos, so if that offends you stop reading now. I love stealth games like the Thief series and all the Metal Gear Solids 1-4, but have never played a RTStealthTatics until I bought this. I love Feudal Japan! I love the music and graphics! But everything from the controls to the gameplay is completely terrible! Why are the enemy cones not always visible? Why did my characters go there instead of here? Why did my perfectly orchestrated ambush go completely opposite of what I asked the characters to do? It's just a bad game, that's not fun. The fact that save scumming is encouraged proves this, like the designers new the player couldn't win their first try. Save scumming breaks immersion, so it's hard to get invested in the game. Do not buy this game unless you like be treat unfair.
If you only like Resident Evil 4, this is not for you. But if you like all of Mikami's past works this is a homage to himself and a masterpiece of survival horror! One of my favorite games on GOG.com!
