ROBOCOP: ROGUE CITY (Teyon, 2023)

in

(****+ / *****): Would've been enough getting to hear Peter Weller as Robo again but that this imperfect, glitchy, buggy, repetitive, and at times maddening game (much like Robo himself: love the slowness and clunk of his movements) was so much damn fun is a bonus miracle in itself. Personality - even with stilted, copy-paste (I loved counting how many different iterations of Ulysses Washington and the Archives guy were roaming the Detroit streets - at least nine each by my latest count) NPC voice acting - and Verhovian satire and gore abounded. Is this a "great" game? Not in the slightest - but it's one of the most fun I've played in ages, rough edges, imperfections and all. In Pickles we trust.

Robocop and Pickles pick out a video

STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio, 2022)

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(****+ / *****): Easily the most fascinating cyberpunk dystopia brought to game-life in recent memory (at least since DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION and yes, I'm including CYBERPUNK 2077 here), each small and contained section a vast, deep world unto itself, a unique beating heart throughout. Other than wishing it were longer (not a bad thing) and for a bit more variety in gameplay, STRAY is nothing short of a (n ever-so-slightly) flawed work of game-making genius. Not only are my heartstrings well and duly tugged, but I learned a new word: Hopepunk; meow.

a few notes at +/- 50% of ALAN WAKE 2

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  • A stunningly-realized horror world; the forests, especially, are terrifying – and beautiful.

  • Saga is such a great character and such a fantastic addition to the series that it makes Wake seem like even more of a raging asshole and his portions of the game a bit more of a chore. Yeah yeah, your story rewrites reality, blah blah blah. Fucking writers.

  • I'm really going to miss James McCaffery’s voice in Remedy games.

  • I was skeptical about the shared Remedy-verse, but I love how it works here. I have the Ultimate Edition of CONTROL that I want to replay soon so I'll pick up on more connections.

  • Think I'm finally understanding how Wake's Plot Board works - though I find it far less intuitive than Saga's profiling: "I have to be in the place to write..." Fucking writers.

  • That musical sequence really was something – and maddening. I love my flare gun but I hate reloading it. Or reloading anything, really... 🎶 "It couldn't be clearer... / ... something something, light / true and right..."🎶

  • Mem: you can reload while running but not while dodging.

  • Coffee World!

  • I miss Barry.

  • Have to play at night because of the location of the TV. Can't see a thing during the day. Appropriate, I suppose.

  • Fucking writers.