![]() ![]() However, that doesn’t really happen until episode six. Once the series finally kicks into gear, it might very well count as the single best stretch of episodes that Stranger Things has ever produced. Stranger Things 3 has one episode fewer than its predecessor, but still feels four episodes too long. The resulting series was a dilution of Stranger Things – it was louder and brasher than its predecessor, with more monsters and a truly bewildering standalone episode – that could just as easily have left it there.Īnd yet here we are again. Or it could have come back as something else entirely after all, it was originally pitched as an anthology series, which explains its weirdly bland title.īut then the cast became hot property, enthusiastically memeing themselves stupid at every possible opportunity, and the anthology was ditched in favour of a continuation. Had Will not coughed up his little devil slug in the final scene – a scene whose inclusion felt more like the product of commercial bet-hedging than creative ambition – Stranger Things could easily have ended there. You craft the various upgrades by finding items in the environment or buying them from shops and vending machines, but I always seemed to be short on items and money, despite destroying every breakable item in every location.By the end, the boy was found and the monster defeated. I ended up using the ones that granted universal bonuses, like extra health or extra walking speed, which were consequently the most boring ones. I switched characters often, so I didn’t like equipping upgrades that benefited single characters. The upgrade system disappoints, only giving you five upgrade slots shared among the 12 characters. I would get stuck on corners or they would be out of reach when they didn’t appear to be. The geometry of the levels often made it harder to attack enemies than it should have been. ![]() I didn’t find blocking useful until the end boss, when it was forced upon me as a necessary mechanic. When lots of enemies are on-screen you use your special ability, but that’s about it. Depending on your attack range, you just press the attack button a bunch and then move to the next enemy. That freedom extends up to the end boss, when I was forced to use a pair of characters I had learned early weren’t for me.ĭespite having different strategic options available with various characters, the moment-to-moment combat is bland. I enjoyed trying different combinations, but also appreciated that you can use whoever you want at any time, even if it doesn’t fit with the story. Mike and Hopper are up-close brawlers, for example, while Will is a ranged fighter and Max’s special ability drops healing items. You unlock additional characters every few missions, and each of the 12 has different abilities. You play as two characters at all times, swapping between them whenever you want. A handful of sidequests exist, but they tasked me with doing boring things like killing rats in a basement, delivering pizza, or finding hidden gnomes and the payoffs were disappointing. I felt I was moving around in a circle as I traveled point to point with simple puzzles and enemies serving as hurdles. They’re all fetch quests, or arbitrary moments where the characters proclaim it’s time to talk to Steve at Scoops Ahoy, or agree they should all meet at Mike’s basement. The main missions are hampered by their need to hew close to the source material. I enjoyed that element, but it does nothing to expand the lore, dig deeper into the characters, or show interesting beats happening outside of the main story. Playing an adaptation like this is nostalgic in its own right, as direct video game adaptations of popular media are rare these days. The story beats are identical to those of the show, but the dialogue is truncated. In Stranger Things 3: The Game (which is confusingly the second Stranger Things game), you control the main cast from an isometric perspective to explore the town of Hawkins, Indiana, and beat up monsters and bad guys as you play through the events of the third season. The aesthetic makes the game feel like it should have been released for the Super Nintendo, but the simple action gameplay holds it back from being a worthwhile companion to one of Netflix’s biggest hits. A 16-bit callback video game is well-suited to tap that same viewership vein. ![]() ![]() Stranger Things is a well-executed throwback to classic ‘80s nostalgia that follows a group of kids in a small town as they solve world-threatening mysteries and try to grow up at the same time. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |