LEFT ALIVE: A Future Cult Classic?
Vložit
- čas přidán 26. 03. 2019
- Sometimes games get misunderstood or judged too harshly. This might be one of those games maybe kind of.
●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●
Links:
Twatter: tinyurl.com/a2ns479
Patronize: www.patreon.com/user?u=2285408
Ask me stuff: ask.fm/ThorHighHeels
My music: adolfnomura.bandcamp.com/music
Thanks for watching! - Hry
You had quality options this month with DMC 5 and Sekiro yet you chose Left Alive. You're a true hero for obscure games and a master of your craft.
Fr, all the big titles are cool but so oversaturated by day 2.
Translation: "Dude, you are wasting your life, loser."
He's the AVGN of JRPG
This game wasn't obscure, it was just straight trash.
@@sharuko24 that’s just you being a hipster.
"5 or so years from now, buy it for 10 bucks" Bought it two weeks ago at GameStop for 5 bucks
How'd it turn out?
July Jaziel enjoyable
Just bought it for literally a dollar lol
I lost it when the error message popped up. Such perfect comedic timing. Your PS4 deserves an award.
As a day one buyer of this game it is very accurate too. Game would crash all the time after a death.
Even the PS4 was, like, "fuck it! I'm done!"
*Caution: The enemy is approaching*
Alert: Hostiles detected
Careful: Antagonization is imminent
staff member has died
You can't sleep while the enemies around 😐
ThorHighHeels. you are literally a godbless. In the game community we can only
count the positive personality like you on a mutilated hand. Even with left alive i know that you have some positive thing to say. Now, i have not played the game, but the main reason i follow you is that i can find positivity here, even in this cozy dumpster fire.
Biggest enemy in Left Alive : office chairs
This really got me thinking about how much of mechanics can you cram in before you can start actually design the rest of the game.
Left Alive clearly has a lot of mechanics, but nothing is given thought to how to design level or enemies.
MGS games have a lot of mechanics, but since level design, enemy placement/AI and other things are generally excellent, mastering them feels rewarding.
Mechanics make for good back of the box bullet points, but I think true value comes in design and utilization.
Hemang Chauhan It's a chicken-or-egg thing. You need content and mechanics that complement one another. Visualization tools are critical for figuring why something isn't working as intended. Design on paper only gets you far. Mad love for MGSV, but it's not perfect in this area. There isn't an incentive to do anything other than tranq, despite that "anything" can actually work (C4 + jeep = god-tier distraction )
Mario Bros had like 3 mechanics. Walk, jump, power up. Still a fun game to this day.
@@jackwithahat8601 And the levels were equally simple, but expanded as the levels went on (the same can be said of subsequent titles). So yeah, simple mechanics, but the levels all helped to utilize them all to some extent, thus making them masterpieces for the most part. :)
@@majormalfunction0071 You know these guys aren't taking their time with design on paper though. Square sets a deadline and throws it to the third party developer, so they work on everything all at once without proofing and setting gates. You have to have at least two people sitting together questioning each other's design ideas and then figuring out the feasibility and the enjoyability in concept and then tons of early revision until you say "hey, this is cool" or "this could really work". Then you have a blueprint, and you can work from that, embellishing on the original design in ways that doesn't waste the time of the development/coders.
This game is not good even on game design merits, and then there's no polish.
If staying alive was the goal, there were far better ways of surviving, including getting out of that warzone city by ducking in a sewer. After a certain amount of time in those environments, it's just a static feeling thing without purpose.
I just bought this on the psn store a few days ago, i am absolutely loving it right now. I remember watching a review when it first came out and it was ripping the game to pieces but I loved the look of it and told myself I will get it once it’s on special, bought it for $12 and I wasn’t sure what to expect but right now I’m up to chapter 4 and loving every second.
I’m playing on hopeless and this is pure survival, you actually have to rely on scavenging everything and crafting anything that can give you a chance, if you go in looking for a fire fight you won’t last long. I don’t think I have ever had to rely on guerilla warfare type combat this much in a game and I’m not even that deep in. I just spent almost 10 minutes in a room debating whether I should discard a bunch of crafting components to pick up a shotgun with 4 shells, first time I have ever thought that deeply for that situation. I can already see the game doesn’t just have choices through the story but you constantly have to make choices through gameplay too, like is it worth saving this person and then guiding them to the safe house, is it better to save all my equipment for the upcoming battle, your supplies are always in your mind, using even a single grenade takes thinking. I realise I’m early in but if the game doesn’t take some sort of drastic change then this might end up being right up there in my personal favourite games.
I hope this game does gain a bigger cult following, unfortunately square enix did an awful job with it marketing wise, they also pushed it out way too soon judging from the review I remember watching. I feel like it was misunderstood from the beginning, I remember reviews complaining about the shooting mechanics and one section where you have to take out an entire squad starting with just a shovel, that’s what the game is, the shooting isn’t meant to be great, you aren’t meant to be able to take out a bunch of people in a pure fire fight, the whole point of the game is to use whatever you have at your disposal to survive. Anyone who enjoys survival games should try this.
One day we will get a definitive stealth/mech hybrid game.
We already did and they were amazing, the games are called Phantom Crash from the original xbox and it's sequel S.L.A.I Steel Lancer Arena International that came out on the ps2.
Titanfall 2 counts, on many levels at least and at Max difficulty.
@@niespeludo
Titanfall 2 is awesome! shame it didn't get the popularity it deserved, would be awesome to see the titanfall games on Steam.
You mean Metal Gear? Hell yeah we got it alright
Titanfall 2 i know you won't read this but......i love you.
“Umm uuuh... oh oh”
ThorHighHeels (19XX - 2019)
So the game is sot of bad but you managed to find a playstyle that made it a bit enrtaining. And you liked it. And that is what makes you a spcial critic: I'm sure I would hate Left Alive but you just made it enjoyable by describing the Y and the X.
q haces acá capo
Problem with Binary Domain comparison: BD was fun to play, if a bit too generic. Left Alive is nowhere near BD level.
Man I love that game. It's isn't fantastic, but the lovable characters and writing kept pulling me back.
Ah yeah, I like that game. Sadly, I never passed the hacking turret section.
yakuza dead souls >
I think the thing that REALLY sets this back, even as a Cult Classic, is that the systems don't really work together at all, and even systems that are pushed to you(Like the traps) are just too slow and ineffective compared to running away. And I know that was part of your point, but since running away is not really a system or a solution the game seemed to acknowledge at all, even going against the cinematic tone of some mission setups(rolling away constantly kinda takes that away), that survivalist approach feels more like you're cheating the game rather than a purposeful mechanic.
There's a lot of loveable jank in the game that I feel rewards more those willing to fuck around with it's broken parts, feels like less of a Cult Classic that is discovered with no expectations and more like a weird recommendation you give, with some major caveats.
What REALLY sets this back is Squenix shitting on a grave of Front Mission series with this one. Like, there's this TRPG series people know and love, you know what they'll also love? Us blowing money on a game with uninspired mech shooting that throws away the awesome series lore; uh, uh, that didn't work out, okay, we'll kinda sorta like bring the lore back and tack uninspired mech shooting to some CRAFTING STEALTH ACTION! Yeah, now that will really work!
Most people have already forgotten the game exists so I don't think it has much chance of becoming a cult classic. There's just too many good games these day for stuff like this to be remembered.
Considering what we consider "cult classics" today, I ask this question about every disappointing/low-quality piece of media I come across.
Interesting. I do the same, I've actually found some decent obscure stuff. Nice to know I'm not alone.
Why is this game called Left alive? When enemy Soldierman Mc Dickhead sees you he kills you
Yes.
We need Zone of The Ender 3
The concepts from the Fox Engine were drool worthy, the bio frame, and the fact that the set piece was going to be prehistoric yet somehow involve mechs. Konami vs Kojima casualies such hard pills to swallow.
@@YoungMachette i feel you bro
Somebody randomly brought this game up to me last week. I forgot it ever existed and never played it, but I remember it being by far the game I was most anticipating when it was announced. The names attached to it made it sound like a dream team I would put together if I was funding a game made entirely just for myself to enjoy. I’ve been a massive fan of every game/anime these people have worked on since I was like 10 years old. I love mechs and have always felt they were severely underutilized in games. I thought this was going to be Square’s big comeback. Then it came out at some point with no fanfare, apparently wasn’t very good, and I didn’t even know any of this until last Tuesday. It’s really sad. I wish this game would have lived up to what I had imagined it to be all those years ago.
I love this perspective of going in fresh and appreciating a game for the vision the devs had as opposed to what magazines or reviewers told you it would be.
Playing as Steve Rambo is the correct way of playing a video game.
I remember when this game was announced I was actually kinda hyped. It was giving me more classic MGS vibes than any MGS game since MGS4. I'm kind a bummed to learn the game stinks like asshole. I still might play it though to see if I can force myself to like it.
Doober Knob that’s the thing you can’t. Got it Day one on pc and I’ve never played anything more unplayable
Did you like it?
An asshole stinks only half as shitty, once you patch it up😎
To be really honest, the Front Mission universe didn't rip off MGS over the whole proxy war scenario. It has been a staple since the first release; Front Mission (1995) on the Super Famicom. I just came from watching your Front Mission 3 review, and being a 17 year old at the time of release, that game was like gold to me. It further expanded on the Front Mission world in a very big way and my soft teenage brain was SUPER impressed because I was invested in the franchise lore at the time.
I gave so many concessions to Left Alive as I did for Front Mission Evolved and got burned so hard for it. It's really tough to deal with how little care SE has given this franchise, but it is also sort of understandable; the geopolitical landscape right now would not have let a game like Front Mission 3 release today. How FM3 characterised China (or the People's Republic of Da Han Zhong) is scarily similar to the policies the PRC is currently heading towards. It would make sense for SE to create future FM games that are not so expansive of the whole world now.
But before China had become such an economic force in current times, two FM games had come out that followed the turn-base formula. Front Mission 4 was essentially The Phantom Menace of the whole franchise. SE overestimated the game's potential sales following FM3's success and it flopped. FM4 was literally about a trade war between the EU and Russia (known as the Republic of Zaftra in Front Mission). Not to shit on FM4, but it went from action hero movie (FM3) to brooding political thriller (FM4). Graphics were really nice though. Front Mission 5 spanned across a few decades in the FM world, following the lives of three kids during a proxy war which happened in Freedom city (from the FM1) and ended at the start of FM3 where MIDAS was stolen from a USN Alaskan base. Front Mission Evolved was essentially a white-washed impression on what anime would be like. It was hard to immerse in the world considering after all that has happened prior to Evolved. Left Alive felt like it was a game about redemption, but somebody dropped the ball in a major way. Its success felt like a guarantee but yet it turned out like it did. Sigh.
JFC I'm disappointed at Square-Enix with what has happened to Front Mission :(
What makes me sad about Left Alive is how it’s one of the few “high-profile” Mech games from a big name studio and it flopped hard.
Granted, they didn’t seem to really have much faith in it to begin with, but when something sells this poorly, there’s a very small chance of there being any more Armored Core/Front Mission games being made in the future :(
Armored Core is happenning!!
This comment aged like milk
I really want to pick this up in like 5 years. Some of my favorite games are niche Japanese low-budget PS2 clunkfests. There's something so charming about them. Only the sound design is a turn off for me here.
Yeah they have personality, that i cannot seem to find nowadays.
Thing is about a lot of those clunky low-budget PS2 games was they were actually still fun to play and somewhat decently designed.
There is a clear difference between entertaining jank and just straight bad.
Its free right now if you have PS extra. Which is how I got here.
For real! Same here
Oh no, not MINDJACK.
I had to review that game and I had forgotten about it. What have you done!? It's ALL COMING BACK.
looks like u got permanently mind jacked.
This game had potential.
Literally just discovered your channel and its already an instant favorite
I kinda like to play it, too bad I don't have enough patience to endure the sloopy Gameplay. I don't think that it will end up being something as big as a cult classic, but I can definetively see It gainig a few more fans over the course of the time. Anyways, love your videos
I got it a few days ago for 10 bucks I'm enjoying it. It has many flaws but still enjoyable for the price I got it for.
You should play Ring of Red on the PS2. The similarities are uncanny, despite the different gameplay genres. It was an absolute steal for the 5€ I paid but robbery for even a cent more. Famitsu also kinda liked Left Alive (31/40) but it´s proven to be a corrupt magazine, especially if SE is concerned.
resident grigo Yeah. Especially when they gave Umbrella Corps a 36. You just CAN'T get away with that.
Great review and unique look at this game^^ Its true you can learn so much from what seems to be "the worst".
But even if it would be about "cowardice" it should have better dodging mechanic than the silly looking dodgeroll I think.
But I gotta say I love the games World and character design
skornie123 agreed. I actually enjoyed the world building and story of the game. The gameplay, on the other hand, was a complete opposite.
@@luiscruz2595 I really hope that this kickstarts or spawns some other similar games with that concept.
Because I really like those worlds which are similar to ours , like in Ace Cobmat, but have some fantastical things mixed in.
I also watched a cutscene video and I agree with you I like the story. Esspecially the one from the cop Olga, also her design is really cool^^
Y gonna give it to ya
But X is gonna leave you dissapointed
Protofan That depends if the people has the patience to repeatedly use the somewhat clunky dodge button to ran pass the enemies just the play the game's best parts, which even then are minimal.
This pun was spot-on. Great reference to DMX, soldier.
I see what you did there. You get a like from me.
someone i was friends with always kept telling me mindjack was a good game
we are no longer friends. obviously
This friend lives in your imagination
I subbed as soon as you said "she had a child once but it got dead in war"
the fire thing is funny
"hay look a fire, better investigate"
So in other words, this is "Run like a Bitch!" The Game.
Hi, to sprint faster than the normal run speed, you need to press R1 two times. To change to the over the shoulder view, aim with L1 and also press R1 :)
Instructions not clear, dick stuck on wanzer joints
@@MesaAufenhand do you not read the tutorials? Can't blame the teacher if you ignore the lessons.
@@dantedarkness r/wooosh
The patch improved the gameplay a LOT. Instant headshot kills and instant stealth kills are a major PLUS. If you like ps2 era games like spy fiction, metal gear solid, hitman etc. This is your hidden gem.
Good to know bro
Might give it go thanks to the patch
I’m always on the look out for hidden gems
Especially shit with the ps2 charm lol
Every modern shooter switches weapons with triangle\Y.
Hey, I just wanted to say I appreciate the Hotel Dusk/Last Window music in this! Nostalgia struck me big time as soon as it started playing
Future Fucko Reviews sounds like a great channel name. I might use that.
I appreciate that you legitimately try to find the good in every game you review, while acknowledging the flaws.
I just want a Front Mission Game you a GOOD one
You know I almost had the same experience with Left Alive when I played it.
It's one of those games where you can see that there is a potentially really awesome game that is overshadowed by bad mechanics and shoddy execution.
but I did enjoy the game as an experience, I do it is one of those games those flowed games that can still provide a fun experience. Infact some of those games you mentioned are some of my favorite games, Mainly Neverdead(the goat game), and Left Alive feels like one of those games, which I'm glad is still somewhat around this gen.
Another thing, Left Alive's Wanzer designs are fucking based, especially the Volk.
I do love me some dumpster fires my dumpster fire was "Deadly Premonition" it makes my pickle hard missed you're past videos man finally catching up on them
I personally like deadly combat in videogames.. more satisfying. As long as it's spaced out and methodical and you're not dying from BS every 10 seconds like in COD
I bought this game absurdly cheap, and just for knowing Shinkawa was involved, I thought I would give it a go. I can see how it appealed to me and many others, but I spent two hours in the first section of the game and died so many times that I just gave up. Even in the easiest difficulty, this game is excruciating difficult and not so rewarding as Dark Souls, that you feel that you are progressing. Definitively not for me
Dude that office chair part fucked me up lol love your videos!
Have you ever thought about streaming like on twitch? I would love to see you play your playstation collection live!
I have, but I can't where I'm currently living. Will for sure start streaming in the future though.
I hope you get 1 million subscribers soon. Every. Video. Is interesting. Thank you, just subscribed.
It will probably be for 5$ in 2 or 3 years.
Black Friday this year I will get it for £5
People should've looked at the actual developers instead of the flashy name dropping. The devs have one shitty anime game under their belt, that was my first clue.
My main problem is that there's no sense of gratification or reward for outsmarting the game or making it through a particularly difficult section. It all feels so randomly hard for the sake of it.
I'm sorry, I was done when what should've been a stealth kill didnt kill and the enemy soldiers didnt even die after 2 explosive traps, Spy Fiction on the PS2 did stealth better than this and that was a pretty blatant MGS knockoff!!!
U know what, I'm watching dis kinda drunk, and it's just SUPERB, thx dude
16:00 Love the weird ass Lego map reference
Caution. It's on sale right now.
You make any random shitty game seem worth a play. Seriously my favorite gaming channel!
I paid 45 quid for this...I feel rather salty. But as a talking piece of certainly is going to be eternally interesting.
Gameplay Garbo tho
You could have just waited, like what? A day? Youll learn.
@@-pressxtostart- I know right? It was an impulse buy and I've learned my lesson
watching this reminded me of playing hitman, trying to find the optimal route through a sprawling map without getting seen and ending up cheesing your way through
I completely missed a new Front Mission game, your review makes it look very interesting, I'll probably check it out.
Been binging your videos since I discovered you yesterday. With my tastes leaning more towards the niche cult classics and panned AAA titles, "X doesn't meet expectations and Y gets ignored" is how I typically feel about the general audience views towards any game I like. Games that put the "X" in the backseat and focus on the "Y" tend to stand out for me. It's very refreshing to find a more chill comedic reviewer that seeks out the "Y" merits across many series, genres, and generations, and then weighs the "X" against the "Y." That is an effort that almost no "journalist" or big name YT reviewer will even consider putting forth. Someone that actually tries to like games by analyzing the total experience is rare, and guys like you cause people to question the negativity zeitgeist that traps so many gems. Subbed and bell'd, for sure.
That said, this game definitely seems like an unintentionally broken "X" reinforcing the "Y" in a much too obtuse and frustrating fashion for me, at least in regards to gameplay.
Stupified final thoughts: Nah...-but yea
pretty much
No
Bro I love these videos best gaming videos ever
this really looks like them just trying to squeeze any money out of whats left of the front mission fanbase so i'll pass
I saw the copyright mark at the end of this video and had to do a double take. This game was just released in 2019?? I honest to god thought you were reviewing another underloved PS2 hidden gem from 10 years ago. My mind is blown!
A PS2 game? Are you serious?
Yeah I'm still waiting for it to be 10$. I come from loving the Front Mission series (which when I found out about it a few days ago that its set in that same universe my heart sank a lil) so getting a new game in English since Evolved should be great.Fine don't be a traditional style game i'll take more regardless. Instead its a non optimized MGS, despite what your saying. I like your thoughts about how its a game that isn't trying to make you fight or stealth it up, but to run like hell. However I ain't got time to fight controls or the game itself to get a chance to be in a wanzer in a 2019 Front Mission game for a few minutes. I get where your coming from, but this game gets a "Boo you stink/10".
Now $14 so you're almost there.
@@RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS77 Just paid 6.47$ on a steam sale. I waited long enough I think they can have that 5 or so dollars they make on the sale now.
@@luffy11234 Hey, all it took was four years.
This was great man
I enjoyed the game for what it was but I'm still somewhat disappointed, considering some of the people who were involved in Front Mission, Metal Gear and even Armored Core worked on this game so you would expect it to be legendary. In the end, it's just okay, and I can see why most were disappointed with the game.
Front Mission Dog Days is doing Left Alive better than Left Alive and it's not even a videogame
Don't put vanquish on the same level next to Mindjack
that's not what i said
Neither are bad, but Vanquish is a masterpiece.
Finished Left Alive today on Hopeless difficulty and I can tell you that I never got so much pissed playing a video game.
Use shampoo instead of shampee next time 😉
Maybe this is a part of Kojima's idea during the early development where in reality, most of us wouldn't be able to be Rambo badasses gunning down an army or sneaking about in tight suits seemingly being undetected. We'd just fucking hide and run like hell..Since he was barely involved, he likely didn't gave a shit if the ideas sounded bad or whatnot.
Uhhh...or some meta post-modern shit like that IDK. At l;east MGS2 was fun yet had those mindfuck moments. This one sounds more like you'd end up with a migraine..
For some reason I thought of extermination, an obscure ps2 gem. No real point here, just though, just overcome by nostalgia.
The office chairs bit though! Hahahaaaa a!
I want to see Front Mission make a return.
Another thing... the fact the game outright calls them mechs rather than wanzers.
The proxy war shit has been part of the series since BEFORE MGS4.
Great review buddy 👍
Man, the last part really made sense of the game.
I just need to say the hotel dusk music caught me off guard
1:14 on his journey to find CHAOS. As it were
That segment at 14:50 got me chuckling pretty hard.
Jim Sterling just pissed all over this game, especially that AI caution aspect. Like, I understand, but damn. You really went in, and when you pointed out the cowardice angle, it just clicked. I started watching your stuff semi-ironically but you are an underrated and underviewed commentator.
Jim's great at shitting on shit, but he lacks nuance at times. Especially when he covers something mediocre like this game. Not to say that he was wrong though. I had to go through a lot of frustrating bullshit to end up where I did lol
a couple of years more and this game could have been a worthy MGS successor. Stealth, survival and action in pure state. What a shame...
Dude I beat the notification, that's a first.
Got that FM3 soundtrack in the back haha
2:10 is that hotel dusk music. I love it
A game where isnted of empowering you like a supersoldier, isnted put you in the shoes of (rational) cowards while hiding from an invading army, tanks, and Mechs
I mean even a soldier with all there training would also be logical inoff to know that taking on an army alone is a bad idea
Yet this game still intrigued me and is still pulling me towards playing I think mainly because I’m a sucker for anything with designs and artwork from yoji shinkawa and mechas and with both this game has a gravity for me I can’t explain ugghhhh!
Nop
I was too intrigued, had to play it. Game is only playable in the update "casual" difficulty and that doesn't make it like a shooter the as they alleged, it allows to play mostly like a stealth game (adds one shot death from head shots). The scope and subject are interesting and the mechanics give you options but the frustration mostly comes from the clunky controls and just weird unpredictable AI behavior that ruins your strategy and tactics.
Thank you for the new perspective on the game
I try
I thought this game was gonna be like Alpha Protocol, really rough around the edges but has a lot personality and a good story to keep you invested
I might've been wrong
Alpha Protocol was/is great.
Now when's the Vampire Rain review?
yeah, that game needs to be reviewed!
They need to just make an old school front mission again
Your writing is very entertaining
Check'd that Hotel Dusk soundtrack in the background
Honestly watching this makes me want to play it, I'm a weirdo who loves mediocre 3rd person shooters so this seems right up my alley after watching this video but I don't want to pay 60 dollars on steam. I'll pick it up on sale at some point. Thanks for the review man, this ACTUALLY helped me make a decision.
I think physical copies are already down to 15 bucks in some places. I don't think the game sold very well lol
I bought this game with the same mindset as you, maybe it was one of those games with low scores that turn out to be gems that will one day have a cult following for its story or interesting concept or characters, you even showed one of these games that I was thinking about, Deadly Premonition, but no, Left Alive turned out to be just bad, I fundamentally disagree with your point here. The only thing that saves itself here is the character design from Yoji Shinkawa, everything else is so bad. The gameplay is stiff and unresponsive, the animations are trash, stealth is so limited, the shooting is terrible, the AI is completely stupid and bugged, the performance is lacking, I honestly feel bad for who purchased a digital copy of this game on consoles and won't be able to refund it. This is a ''The Quiet Man'' level flop.
Haven't played it yet, but from what you said about traps maybe you're supposed to be easily detected in order to more effectively lure guards into said traps.
1:46 - And this is why we're here!