Vader Immortal: A Star Wars Tale
To begin with a quick rant, why, when a compilation or multiple episode game is released on disc, can't publisher combine said parts? I bought 'Vader Immortal' on disc, and it lists all three episodes separate. To answer my own question, it's laziness (or likely time/money), since you can't play all three episodes from the same menu. They appear as they were released digitally. It's cumbersome and annoying, and something I want to avoid when buying a complete game on disc.
Anyway, 'Vader Immortal' isn't categorized as a game since EA held the exclusive publishing rights at the time of its release, and as such many see it as more of an experience. Sure, ok, but it's still a game, just a very short one. You play a scrapper who gets caught in Vader's tractor beam because you're the key to the old world of Mustafar. Only you can activate the device to unlock the doors to find the thing that can bring Padme back. Sounds boring, but it's actually a well told story that expands the lore of Mustafar. You meet its people, train with Vader and feel like a Jedi, however brief the time is. And it is a short game. I think it took me around two hours. It went so quick that I had to wait after episode two for episode three to finishing copying off the disc (good time for 'Star Wars Pinball VR'!). The story is written by David S. Goyer, and it's well told. It's also well voiced and looks good on the aging PSVR1 hardware. Force powers work well and the few fight sequences there are are intense! Swinging a lightsaber is responsive and fun! Most characters still feel too small if you were actually in the room with them (a constant problem with VR), but Vader is imposing and stands over you.
It's not all great, though, and it mainly comes down to technical problems. For starters, unlike the Oculus version, there's no full locomotion; click turning and teleportation only, and that is a real bummer. Your droid companion, voiced by Maya Rudolph, is more annoying than funny. I had audio glitches throughout all three episodes too. Because this isn't a "game" you're on a strict linear path. There's no collectibles and barely anything is interactable outside of your ship's interior. In fact, the only trophies are for completing each episode and surviving in the dojo. At least there is a dojo, and it's slightly different in each episode. But while lightsaber fights can be intense and using force powers engaging, without true locomotion, it feels more like a ride than game. Which is how it was marketed.
That said, I really enjoyed it, and I think any Star Wars fan will also enjoy it. It's short, and the physical extras aren't anything to write home about, but it's fun!
Ryse: Son of Rome
As I still make my way through my backlog of missed Xbox One games, 'Ryse' was one that always intrigued me because Ancient Rome has always intrigued me (almost getting runover while walking on a sidewalk in Rome, not so much). Luckily it was a Games with Gold title at some point. And I have to say, I really enjoyed it.
You play fictional general Marius of Rome at the end of Nero's rule, mostly recanting your previous exploits while barbarians sack the city. But despite some real life figures, this game is very much in the fictional fantasy side. Gods play with humans, resurrection is common and real life figures are not reflective of their real life counterparts. That said, it's an engaging tale that is well written and well voiced. At times, you really feel like you're playing a Hollywood movie too.
But for all the pomp, the game is rather shallow. With few exceptions of short dead-ends, the path forward is very linear. Combat, while having it's positive spins, is barebones. Mostly slash away or break a defense, then use an execution which can regain health, focus, give extra XP etc. while fighting the same couple of CPU models, rinse repeat. The same goes for bosses. They each have one combo to block, strike when you gain an opening, rinse repeat. What's more, nowadays, the microtransactions for gold have been made free. So it's easy to download 100,000 coin and almost immediate level Marius all the way up. Then spam focus to stun enemies, slash, execute for more focus, repeat. Combat is flashy, and gruesome, but not difficult (though I heard legendary difficulty is a major step up).
Once the short campaign is over, unless hunting the rest of the collectibles sounds fun, there is multiplayer, but I couldn't get a match going. Also, there are glitched achievements. The final couple of achievements for beating the game still haven't unlocked for me, and the achievements that were unlocking as I was going had a delay to them.
For as cheap as a copy of the game is now, or if received via Games with Gold, it's a fun game to run through. A second playthrough? Probably not, but worth a first.