Brianna Reeves
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Playstation Lifestyle Latest Reviews
Observer: System Redux serves as an enhanced version of Bloober Team’s 2017 sci-fi horror title, Observer. Again, players assume the role of Daniel Lazarski, an Observer-class detective in Kraków whose interrogation methods involve hacking into the minds of cybernetically enhanced folks. The dark cyberpunk setting takes place in 2084, years after a digital plague known as the nanophage devastates Poland. This doesn’t count as the crux of Observer’s narrative, though. Lazarski instead becomes wrapped up in a quest to find his missing son, Adam.
Full disclosure: Prior to this remaster, I’d only played Crysis 2 and Crysis 3, both of which I consider among the best first-person shooters from last generation. Crysis Remastered, then, gave me the opportunity to experience the beginning of it all. Unfortunately, Crytek‘s latest didn’t even manage to live up to the lowest expectations.
Developing character and story is tricky business. Throw in interactivity and the discussion on storytelling becomes infinitely more complicated, particularly when considering gameplay and the need for engagement. In many respects, MachineGames’ rebooted Wolfenstein series has, thus far, ticked all of the boxes. Compelling, complex characters fuel an equally compelling narrative, both buttressed by good gameplay mechanics and an intriguing world. Unfortunately, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, a spinoff set roughly 20 years after the events of Wolfenstein II, doesn’t measure up. While Youngblood’s main characters excel on every front, and its story largely upholds the series’ appealing absurdity, the gameplay loop and plot structure stumble time and again.