Melissa Buranen's Reviews
I was super excited to be able to really support the series making an official jump to North America, but looking at this as an introduction to the series doesn’t work.
Mankind Divided takes a step forward into learning of conspiracies and the organization behind it all. The story is given a better pacing that allows for more sense to be made over the deeper and more complex areas of its narrative.
The premise of the game is dark. It still finds a way to be light and humorous, even if it is a morbid comedy. The humor can be found in the story paragraphs that appear on the map and the item descriptions. The knights are cartoon-like and so is the King. And while about death there is no gore to this game.
The stylized look is stunning and interesting visually. Even with the issues of the levels and controls, Bound uses the unique movements to make it more compelling and engaging. The story is emotional and deep. The lack of narration used to tell the story makes it even better.
I almost feel bad talking about this game. Call it a guilty conscience, but This is the Police drew me in with its narrative speaking throughout the story. I will say that those parts were well written and at least mildly intriguing. But the actual game part failed to keep me engaged.
In all, the game feels like it is the developers testing the waters of ideas, but they pulled from their older games to give something to the long time players of the series.
The world creation is where this game shines. The limited amount of areas is full of small details. When looking at random documents and reading them, they’ll have actual information – not just gibberish to make it look like a document was written without any real content.
he slow start to this game really almost made me give up on it. I am glad I waded through because the battle sequences are fun and challenging. Then the change in team keeps from getting complacent in the moves and abilities available. Some of the character interactions can be a bit odd, mostly in Ichiya’s section related to the female characters around him. But there are other more endearing and interesting interactions that make up for some of the oddities.
I just want to start by saying that I’ve been waiting at least 5 years for this game. I had already been well into the Fire Emblem series when I first played Persona 3 and Persona 4. It was shortly after playing those, and loving them, that a friend informed me of a rumor of a crossover of the series. Back then, it had only been a rumor with no details to when or how it would come to life. So I imagined and dreamed up scenarios for how the two separate style of games would merge. These imaginations of mine looked nothing like Tokyo Mirage, but this game is everything I never knew I wanted.
Overall for the main game, it was an enjoyable experience. The character interactions helped in making up for the faults in the boss battles. The script of the game may have relied too much on cursing, but there are still genuine moments. The weapon variety is fun to play with and can be switched through during battle, not just setting what you want prior to a fight. The combat was fast-paced and smooth, and it heavily set up for replayability.
Going into this game, I did not expect to like it as much as I do. There is a fast travel system, but I rarely used it. I preferred flying around and collecting gems on my way as I went to different locations. Sometimes the free range of gravity could be disorienting. This was mostly in battles or challenges where there was more of a rush to completing a task. This made me just want one button that I could orient myself to the world, without losing place. This game is a lot of fun if you get the chance to play it.
While the original game and story were already an odd and unusual tale, this game dials it up even more. The game ends up feeling more random than it needs to be.
If you haven't played any of the series before and are curious, I suggest waiting for a new title to release than jumping into an older one.
The story was laid out into episodes, with some sort of development or twist at the end to launch into the next. It is different with the style of the visuals and far less amount of decisions that would impact the story. The environments for the game flowed very well. Any time I entered an area, I felt I was able to get through it. Nothing felt so impossible that it could not be done. The keys to this game involved patience and being aware of Hope's placement in respect to the guards. How the game integrates the player into becoming a part of the story was different and interesting; rather than just having the players play as Hope, you are helping her and trying to protect her.
This game went a lot quicker than I would have expected and did feel easier than the Souls and Bloodborne games. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. For people who are maybe less interested or more wary of the Souls series, this game might be an option to try out. For those who love those series already this game is a fun time spent that could be less grueling than running through the Souls game for another New Game+.