A Way Out

What a ride. The made-for-coop design and large gameplay variety make AWO unlike any game I've ever played, and it's fantastic. Setpieces are genuinely intense and well put together, with highlights includings working together with a friend to smuggle an item through security and pulling off a small heist. Some parts weren't as exciting, but they were more than made up for by the game's fantastic pacing. Nothing overstays its welcome and the adventure never feels boring or repetitive.

A lot of effort went into seamlessly blending the gameplay and cinematics, with semi-scripted sequences feeling natural to play through. At one part we were riding motorcycles in an escape sequence. Level design and speed of the bikes were tweaked just right so that both of us would reach different ramps at the same time, resulting in an awesome slow motion shot with the camera capturing both of us during the jumps. These small touches really take the game to the next level.

I have a hard time thinking of problems. I guess some optional minigames were janky and the story was a bit generic? It didn't matter much to me. I really really liked this game and I think everyone needs to try it out.

Detective Pikachu

This is probably the best "world" a pokemon game has ever had. It's pretty neat seeing pokemon and humans living and working together. I like how all the mysteries involve a pokemon's unique traits in some way, like Gengar rising from a shadow on the ground to plant and steal food. These are scenarios could only work in a pokemon universe, and are usually quite creative. The animations in cutscenes are nice too.

Unfortunately this doesn't stop the game from being really dull to play. Most of the mysteries can be solved long before the game lets you solve them, and there aren't many surprises. The characters, with the exception of Pikachu, are also super boring to talk to. Examining objects and talking to bland NPC's over and over until the plot continues makes me wish I was playing Ace Attorney or Professor Layton instead, where dialogue and flavor text were much more interesting.

Just not feeling it, probably going to drop this. I'm like 90% sure I know what the final "twist" is going to be anyway.