| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 4 | 8.40 |
| Overall | 8.40 |
|
The Ubisoft open world game, it’s practically a genre of its own at this point. You know the formula, find a large tower or high point to reveal a portion of the map which in turn populates the map with loads of icons representing a myriad of activities to do, often time way way too many activities. Zelda BOTW was praised for shaking up the formula a bit with a more organic way to explore the world and allowing total freedom with free climbing, Immortals is Ubisoft’s attempt a more puzzle oriented BOTW style game and it shakes up the formula enough to shine as a new potential Ubisoft franchise. You play as Fenyx a regular soldier (can be male or female, I chose female) who gets entangled in a Greek god struggle between Typhon and the gods of Olympus. It’s the classic hero’s tale, small beginning leading to heroic deeds that save the world, the twist is the entire game is a story narrated by Prometheus who is telling the story to Zeus, they have witty banter and make fun of a lot of the absurdities of Greek mythology. The ongoing commentary seems to have rubbed some people the wrong way, yeah sometimes they talk a lot but I enjoyed the jokes and the actual insightful look at Greek mythology unfiltered, some of the stories are nuts. You will have Zeus confront his murderous and incestuous side, he realizes what a shitty father and person he is. I haven’t seen a Greek god story told in this way so it was refreshing. The gameplay is a mix of Ubi open world, BOTW puzzles and basic hack and slash action. Let’s get the combat out of the way as it’s the weakest link, you have basic quick strikes which fill your stamina bar and strong attacks which drain it. Strong attacks lower the enemies stamina bar which when emptied they enter a stunned state where you can attack freely. There is a parry system to counter enemy regular attacks and a basic dash dodge to avoid the enemies in lockable strong attacks. To top it off there a multitude of upgrades to the skills which allow longer combo strings and more maneuverability. Fenyx can learn new godly powers as you play which act like super attacks, there are only five of them so you will be abusing them as nauseam, these take a big chunk of stamina so the game becomes about mixing in light strikes to get stamina back up in order to use more god powers. There is also a lift and throw mechanic which lets you throw rocks at enemies, it’s a viable strategy at the start but quickly becomes obsolete. There is a bow and arrow that is practically useless in battle as well. Combat works well enough, it’s fast paced, it has the combo building of a really simplistic DMC style game. Enemies are a threat for a good chunk of the beginning of the game until you upgrade. This is the bane of all open world games, horrible balance if you try to find all upgrades, at some point I became a god, even the most toughest enemies became trivial fights. Boss battles were over in less than a minute. Games should get more skill based as you play not get easier and this is where the whole combat system fails. There just isn’t enough depth to sustain it past a certain point. Enemies do come in many different forms but the strategy to fight all of them is exactly the same. Bosses are usually just bigger versions of regular enemies so don’t expect many memorable battles. As a comparison many say BOTW combat system is very basic but I always felt BOTW was dangerous even at high levels and allowed for far more improvisation and freedom on how to tackle enemies, so while the actual feel of the move set feels better in Immortals I think BOTWs combat is more interesting. Where Immortals succeeds is it’s incredible collection of puzzles scattered all over the world and the many many vaults that serve as a take on BOTWs shrine system. This is an Ubisoft open world where basically all the activities are puzzles and holy shit are there a ton of them. Treasure chests litter the landscape, most holding some upgrade materials and new gear (that give stat bonuses); where most games would just have these chests as a reward for a fight this game hides them behind light walls that can only be taken down by solving some kind of puzzle. These puzzles usually come in the form of moving blocks on switches, lighting unlit torches, guiding weighted objects to a panel and so on. It’s usually puzzles involving being observant of your environment, is there a cracked wall hiding a switch I need? If I need a heavy object for this floor panel where can I find it and so on. These puzzles range from pretty basic to surprisingly elaborate. It reminded me of Batman Arkham riddler trophies on a larger scale. I loved the riddler trophies because it gave the player something to think about and solve for every reward, you didn’t just mindlessly find it and grab it. Immortals is similar, every object is earned by thinking or doing a fun activity that makes use of your skills. The vaults are where the really interesting puzzles lie. They all take place in the same looking vault realm, much like how all Zelda shrines share the same aesthetic, and here is where you will go through an obstacle course of lasers, moving platforms and puzzle solving. Again many involve the use of moving objects to switches but all kinds of obstacles will get in the way. In some you need to block lasers to get a breakable box to a switch. In some you are moving a large rolling ball around while being able to change the direction of the wind to have it launch off ramps. On some you are on a moving platform trying to hit targets with your arrow that are also moving while you are avoiding lasers. They keep finding new ways to use the same objects , it’s all quite brilliant. Unlike BOTW there are very few basic one note vaults, most have three steps, first one shows how the puzzle will work, the second elaborates on it and the third step takes that puzzle to an advanced state. Yes there are a collection of combat vaults which are basically arena fights versus enemies but I didn’t find them as numerous as the ones in BOTW. At the end of the missions of each region of the map you access a god vault which is a more elaborate large “dungeon” like level, these are the best of the vaults and all were well done. I kind of feel that here Immortals beat BOTW at it’s own game, this game does the bite sized puzzle rooms better. Now if you don’t like switch based puzzles where you are many times moving boxes or large spheres around then this game won’t be for you. It’s almost a throw back to the late 90s when box puzzles were all the rage but this one does it with way more creativity. Also the skills Fenyx has don’t really come into play that much and that’s where it hits its limit to puzzle solving, BOTW has multiple gameplay systems at play that are used in puzzle solving often times allowing the player to improvise, there is almost none of that here. There is usually one way to solve a puzzle, you do what the devs designed and that is it. So I love the creativity and content of these kinds of puzzles but I wished there were more systems at play like how BOTW has. Immortals game world is a beautiful colorful world that is mostly a joy to explore. The graphics art style fits the world extremely well, a sort of cartoony look that emphasizes bright contrasting colors. I love the look of the lush green fields of Athena’s grove and that contrasts greatly with the red desolate look of Ares battlefields. There are large temples to explore, massive statues to climb and jump off of to glide around the world looking for the next activity. Now the world isn’t too interactive, again I’ll use BOTW as the comparison point, you aren’t manipulating world systems here, you can’t start a fire and push it while manipulating the wind so to say. It’s all very static and that doesn’t allow any emergent gameplay, luckily I found the plethora of activities to keep me entertained for the many many hours it takes to see everything. Immortals is great first attempt at a more thought provoking take on the Ubisoft formula, it borrowing from BOTW is no coincidence as it actually manages to do some aspects better but clearly is lacking in others. They nailed the pacing with the puzzles, I never felt bored, I never felt like I was wandering aimlessly looking for something new to do. If you love puzzles and a ton of small mini game like activities this is a massive game full of them, so it’s almost perfect for me. I just wished the combat was not so basic and that more elaborate mechanics get added that can open up further puzzle possibilities. Still this is a great game that shakes up the normal Ubisoft formula. |
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Posted by Dvader Wed, 02 Jun 2021 16:03:42
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Foolz (5m)
My only issue with buying it is that I hardly game on the Xbone. It's mostly been an expensive Netflix device.