Asgard's Wrath 2 Review - Worthy Of The Gods

Reviewed on: Quest 3
Platform: Quest 3, Quest 2
Publisher: Oculus Studios
Developer: Sanzaru Games
Rating: Mature

Asgard’s Wrath 2 stands out in a sea of virtual reality titles available on the market today. As the showcase piece for the Meta Quest 3, this sequel offers an experience rarely seen in the category, weaving together an exciting blend of action, intricate puzzle design, and semi-open-world environments. With the clever use of VR mechanics, you discover new surprises even after playing for dozens of hours. Asgard’s Wrath 2 is a VR game that’s difficult to put down, even as the Quest 3’s battery life often requires you to. However, while it does start out strong, it hits a few stumbling blocks along the way.

Asgard’s Wrath 2 immediately follows the events of the first game. The god of mischief, Loki, has managed to escape, and it's up to you to track him down. The big difference now is that your journey takes you to the vast sand seas of Egypt, where you meet other deities willing to help you in your search.

There’s an immense world just waiting to be explored, which gave me a sense of awe as I looked at my surroundings and the sheer scope of what Sanzaru Games crafted. Moreover, the game’s visual flair, powered solely by a standalone headset like the Quest 3, remained impressive from a technical standpoint as I ventured through the picturesque landscape in this lengthy action RPG.

As you play through Asgard’s Wrath 2, you control distinct heroes with their respective narrative arcs. For example, you encounter the warrior Abraxas as he’s robbing a tomb. Later on, you control the river nymph Cyrene in her own chapter. You also meet various animal companions, such as a boar that can wade through lava and a panther that can cause illusory blocks to solidify. These concepts, in terms of traversal and puzzle-solving, make each companion’s functions quite unique, though the A.I. noticeably fumbles during battles. In some cases, they won’t even attack an enemy right next to them until you manually target that foe.

Combat mechanics push the boundaries of what VR gameplay can be, thanks to each hero’s assortment of weapons. This arsenal creates genuinely unique and refreshing playstyles. For instance, I’d get into the thick of the fray as Abraxas, slashing with a whip-sword in my right hand while tossing axes with my left. Meanwhile, the ranger Alvilda required me to perform rapid flicking motions to shoot different magic arrows. Surprisingly enough, the most mechanically complex character was an undead scribe named Djehuty; I had to place both hands in front of my headset and make a pulling motion to decapitate the character; then, I could use the head to possess foes.

Regrettably, I had a few issues with the controls, especially when grabbing weapons, since the controller has difficulty detecting the action unless I sit upright. Likewise, throwing weapons or firing projectiles, even with aim assist options enabled, became frustrating and tiring.

 

Still, the most fascinating feature of Asgard’s Wrath 2 is its puzzles, which show what can truly be achieved by VR games in terms of immersion, creativity, and engagement. Since you’re playing as a god, you can use your divine form to take control of larger structures, often switching to your hero character, who then traverses the area with the help of animal companions. The highest praise I can give Asgard’s Wrath 2 is that, at times, it feels like the Zelda VR game enthusiasts have been waiting for. Major puzzles are presented as grand set pieces – moments that filled me with wonder upon reaching these sections and a sense of satisfaction upon coming up with a solution.

Sadly, the sheer abundance of puzzles leads to poor pacing during specific segments, such as escaping a dungeon’s traps, only to realize that another brain teaser awaited instead of a climactic boss battle. The game’s last few chapters also feel rushed compared to the arcs of the first two heroes. 

Asgard’s Wrath 2 still boasts an epic campaign that can take upwards of 70 hours to complete, chockful of numerous locales, lairs, and secrets to discover. Likewise, an infinitely replayable roguelike mode is waiting for you well after you're done with the campaign and the overworld areas. In spite of a few qualms, Asgard’s Wrath 2 remains an offering worthy of the gods.

Score: 9

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Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review – A Royal Resurgence

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Rating: Teen

The Prince of Persia series has a long and storied history going back decades, and I know none of it. The latest, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, from developer Ubisoft Montpellier, has me regretting that because if this game indicates what else awaits me in the franchise, I’ve clearly been missing out. The Lost Crown uses exhilarating platforming, a deep combat loop, and more to create a new Metroidvania classic. While I would like a more compelling story and a few tweaks to its systems, I struggled to put The Lost Crown down, taking my gameplay sessions into the late hours of the night. The Lost Crown is a fascinating and highly successful reemergence for the beloved series. 

Notably, you do not play as the Prince of Persia in The Lost Crown; instead, you control Sargon, one of the seven Immortals, elite warriors who protect Persia, its Queen Thomyris, and the titular Prince Ghassan. However, Ghassan is kidnapped, sending the Immortals to Mount Qaf, where a labyrinthian adventure awaits Sargon and friends. The entire game takes place here, and by the end of my 21-hour adventure, I intimately knew its various biomes, secrets, shortcuts, and safe havens. One of my favorite parts of The Lost Crown was watching the foggy map of Mount Qaf reveal itself as a series of connected hallways, hidden chambers, and platforming puzzle playgrounds, in part because exploring all of it was an absolute treat. However, I would have liked a better fast-travel system, and sometimes there’s too much backtracking.

On current-gen consoles, The Lost Crown runs at a smooth-as-butter 120 frames per second, with a 4K resolution to boot. I’m not the biggest fan of its art style, which features gorgeous backdrops and painterly environments but playdough-esque characters, but it’s hard to deny how good it all looks in motion. 

 

The Lost Crown stands tall, if not above in most instances, to some of the genre’s best. Combat starts simple, with a heavy emphasis on parrying, but grows into a deep system of extended ground attacks, air combos, projectile combo extenders, fast dash-kicks, and more. Amulets with special properties, like increased melee damage or frost resistance, for example, are hidden throughout, further adding to the customization of your Sargon. Athra Surges use special energy built up through combat and they can shift the weight of an encounter in an instant. And to round out the toolkit, Sargon collects time powers throughout the journey, which grant him powerful abilities for use in combat and exploration. 

Like the various puzzles of Mount Qaf, every encounter presents its own predicament; I had to think fast and attack faster to take down new enemies with moves I hadn’t seen. And bosses are the combat’s crème de la crème. Each boss capped off the learning experience The Lost Crown put me through in the preceding hours, requiring the use of every tool in my arsenal (and every healing flask, too). I welcomed new boss fights, even after the fifth attempt on some of its most challenging. 

 

The same can be said for its platforming. Quick respawning and instant resets carve out the worst parts of platformers, leaving a trial-and-error experience that remains highly rewarding throughout the game. A tough-as-nails platforming section that requires perfect precision might lead you to a rare currency that helps you strengthen Sargon’s swords, a special petal that increases his total health, or even a miniboss; I was never disappointed with what awaited me, a critical component to an enriching Metroidvania experience. 

With a robust suite of accessibility options, like the ability to adjust the parry window timing, increase or decrease how much health you take on hits (and how much enemies take from yours, too), and portals that let you skip platforming sections, you can fine-tune The Lost Crown to be the experience you want. It’s a commendable effort and speaks to Ubisoft’s Montpellier’s innovation in this ever-growing genre. Being able to quickly attach a Memory Shard, which acts like an in-universe screenshot, to the massive map makes keeping track of what you can and can’t do at any moment a breeze. Coupled with various pins you can attach to the map, it’s a feature set I want in every game like this moving forward. 

The story, despite some twists and turns that genuinely surprised me, fell into the background too often, and I struggled to understand why I was going here or there beyond the objective marker on my screen. But this and its few other issues did little to hamper my enjoyment.

The Lost Crown makes it hard to put the controller down, constantly urging players to follow its paths just a little further. Following its persistent pull to explore more of Mount Qaf is easy, though, thanks to how good it feels to do so. Between its first-rate platforming and engaging combat and progression, The Lost Crown’s various parts coalesce into a sublime loop. Gameplay is king, and this Prince of Persia understands that. 

Score: 9.5

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The Finals Review – Appetite For Destruction

<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://ift.tt/ZysmrUg" width="800" height="450" alt="Embark Studios The Finals Release Date December 7 Surprise Launch The Game Awards 2023" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-body-default" /></p>

Reviewed on: PC
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Embark Studios
Developer: Embark Studios
Rating: Teen

<p>The Finals offers rare novelty in the competitive multiplayer genre, encouraging creative strategies impossible in other titles because of its immense environmental destruction, physics-based hazards, and armory of whimsical gadgets. This first-person shooter occurs amid a digital game show where varying counts of three-person teams fight over money caches in an objective-focused format. The Finals is unpredictable in the best way: gameshow events like meteor showers or orbital lasers remap previously memorized paths, map variants like moving platforms or suspended structures can obfuscate objectives, and your team’s best-laid defensive plans are often interrupted as explosives obliterate the buildings around you. </p> <p style="margin-top:16px; margin-bottom:16px">Developer Embark Studios showcases its mastery of Unreal Engine with gorgeously lit, fully destructible level designs that are incredibly fun to maneuver. Monaco, Las Vegas, Seoul, and Skyway Stadium – the four maps present at release – require distinct strategies and feature randomized elements that make every match impressively dynamic. You might load a map and find it under construction or unrecognizable, such as when sandstorms cover Vegas with enormous dunes.</p> <img loading="lazy" src="https://ift.tt/H2WESj9" typeof="foaf:Image" alt="" class="image-style-body-default" /> <p style="margin-top:16px; margin-bottom:16px">The game features three unique classes: Heavy, Medium, and Light. Heavies can equip a rocket-propelled grenade, flamethrower, energy shield, a massive sledgehammer, or a glue gun that allows the user to create makeshift walls and cover. Mediums most closely resemble a support role, featuring the option to equip a healing beam, automated turret, zipline systems, jump pads, and defibrillators for quick revives. Lastly, the Light class specializes in grappling hook traversal and multiple invisibility gadgets. Each role is satisfying to explore, offering numerous possibilities for emergent play. Witnessing brilliant synergies like propelling the Cashout – an ATM-like objective – toward the opposite side of the arena by using the Heavy’s rocket to bounce the object atop a Medium’s well-placed jump pad leaves me energized and curious. Ultimately, team collaboration is crucial in finding success in The Finals since the skill ceiling becomes much higher with these potent equipment combinations.</p> <p style="margin-top:16px; margin-bottom:16px">It’s incredibly satisfying to interrupt an enemy team’s attempt at stealing the objective (an ATM-like device) by blowing the floor from beneath them with an RPG or C4 pack and ambushing them as they unexpectedly fall to a lower level. On the flip side, you can avoid a perilous fall with a well-timed goo grenade, creating a makeshift floor or bridge where one didn’t exist before. The reactive, high-stakes strategies the physics system facilitates remind me of the breakneck decisions that define the best fighting games.</p> <img loading="lazy" src="https://ift.tt/o5Q7CYf" typeof="foaf:Image" alt="" class="image-style-body-default" /> <p style="margin-top:16px; margin-bottom:16px">Ignoring current multiplayer trends, The Finals features sturdy health bars, long respawn times, the exclusion of multiple weapon slots, and a lack of scopes on most guns. While using the iron sights on larger weapons like the M60 light machine gun is sometimes tricky because the optic’s alignment markers obscure my view, I admire Embark’s commitment to novelty through these choices, as they reinforce a focus on gadgets, environmental destruction, and the creative strategies that emerge from the intersection of those features.</p> <p style="margin-top:16px; margin-bottom:16px">However, in a game with many well-designed characteristics, Embark’s use of generative A.I. text-to-speech voicework is unappealing. The gameshow’s characters sound believable at best but broadly fall flat due to one-note performances and mediocre writing. Additionally, I’ve heard duplicate voice lines multiple times, making the developer’s use of generative art largely pointless.</p>   <p style="margin-top:16px; margin-bottom:16px">Notably, the cosmetic microtransactions are fairly priced and offer robust character customization. Whether earning a new skin via the battle pass or purchasing it from the in-game shop, you can equip various parts of the outfit and pair them with others. Despite the slow progression of the battle pass, which I hope is adjusted in the future, the mix-and-match nature of its rewards makes them exciting to unlock.</p> <p style="margin-top:16px; margin-bottom:16px">The Finals has given me some of my favorite multiplayer moments in 2023. Whether actively engaging in vertical combat or excitedly scaling rooftops on the way to the next objective, navigating the environments feels incredible, and the thrill of watching the ground disappear from below my feet never gets old. In a year of groundbreaking video game releases, The Finals is yet another highlight.</p> <section class='type:slideshow'><figure><img src='https://ift.tt/GJQWIOf src='https://ift.tt/grIfa5A src='https://ift.tt/USIZnf0 src='https://ift.tt/8W14BID src='https://ift.tt/ubRgKBz src='https://ift.tt/1zur0Hw src='https://ift.tt/0CDFbU6>

Score: 9

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