Ghost of Tsushima - Review, an end-of-generation ghost

Ghost of Tsushima - Review, an end-of-generation ghost

Quality is based on standards: although something in people's eyes (critical or not) may arouse some feeling, in the end everything is always comparable. Dozens of films, books or even culinary dishes can be judged according to certain criteria, but all that will be analyzed anyway will be, involuntarily or not, compared to similar (or often even things that have little to do with it). Ghost of Tsushima no less: the title sucker Punch PlayStation 4 exclusive is the last (exclusive) game to land on the Sony console before the arrival of the new generation, and obviously carries a burden that, alas, is bigger than its shoulders. Certainly the title has undoubted qualities, but it is impossible not to compare, especially when we did the math a month ago the release of The Last of Us Part II and, above all, when the game produced mixes a large number of features that we have now come to appreciate thanks to other games released over the years.



Once upon a time there was Japan

The undisputed protagonist of Ghost of Tsushima remains undoubtedly the Japan: the island of Tsushima, the scene of a terrible clash between the Japanese and the Mongols, appears to be delightfully structured (at least from an artistic point of view). Every single glimpse will give you the impression of being in a photo, and the deep editor will allow you to take fantastic shots. The real Japanese soul, however, stands out from the dialogues, from the plots of the game and from the incredible search for details that was done. As we know from the synopsis the game will make us impersonate Jin sakai, a brave Samurai who will find himself forced to challenge the Mongols to save his world: he himself, along with many other characters, will be the lights that will illuminate, through interesting dialogues, all those Japanese customs that dotted the 1200s.



It is therefore impossible to be disappointed by the setting: the game offers a world full of details, colors and landscapes that will make every lover of Japan dream. Unfortunately, the amazement stops here: if in fact the finishes manage to make us truly experience a fantastic feudal Japan, the plot and the intertwining - even secondary ones - they remain quite banal and not very original. Throughout the story, Jin will experience an adventure full of twists, each expertly packaged with shots that recall genre films, but they will never be able to make us so passionate about this story that, despite not being cloned from some other story, slips away without much interest.

Ghost of Tsushima - Review, an end-of-generation ghost

All in all we are not faced with even the worst of stories: some secondary plots will prove interesting, sometimes more than the main one, and some missions related to legendary equipment will be almost intriguing, especially in discovering the story behind those events and how the myth was created. Even the plots related to the allies have proved to be very intriguing to discover: each of them, developed through multiple missions during the game, allows you to discover these characters in depth by adding useful features to understand them better.

The art of combat

So if the setting made us fall in love and the plot didn't make us scream at the masterpiece, the real flaw in this boat is the gameplay: Ghost of Tsushima in fact “steals” with full hands from large productions to create a game that, according to the initial objectives, was centered on naked and raw combat. On the other hand, the Samurai were Japanese soldiers dedicated to bushido, a code of honor that translated means "way of the warrior": it is therefore interesting to discover this duplicity in Jin's choices of approach, which if on the one hand he can face face his enemies, on the other hand he will be able to run the little honorable road of thieves. The thing that really hurts, however, is to see how Sucker Punch, who bears the brand of Infamous (capable of making the karma system really intriguing) in this Ghost of Tsushima has managed to make it all. a simple set of dialogue, flashbacks and nothing else. Being able to switch between the two styles painlessly makes the weight of the bushido useless, and does not alter our path in any way. To further damage these dynamics we think the obligation, in some missions, to fight in a certain way, canceling the pleasure of being able to live the experience in a personal way.



Speaking more strictly of the gameplay, in the combat phases Jin will be able to make use of some ability: these skills, not too complex neither in terms of combo nor in terms of results, will be used as a side dish to objects that can be used in the game (to be unlocked during the adventure) and to blade fights, or the phases in which you will have to parry, dodge, counter attack and try to kill enemies. To do this, you can use 4 different styles (to be unlocked during the game), each dedicated to a certain type of enemy (but which ultimately remain only some stances that change the combat system little). Unfortunately, a great demerit goes to the Artificial Intelligence of the enemies: if in fact the head-on collision will be fun (even if they will try to attack "in turn", a dynamic that I thought was now outdated), in the stealth phases they will have the genius of a peanut, sometimes looking at us for entire minutes without seeing us , perhaps only because they are covered by 3 slightly tall white flowers. This all in all is not the only problem of the stealth phase: the silent kills will be very simple to do, a skill will allow you to chain up to 3 and even the animations will really be a couple.

Ghost of Tsushima - Review, an end-of-generation ghost

To conclude the basic gameplay features, think about it exploration: in the game in fact we will be able travel all over Tsushima Island to discover many and interesting activities: raided villages, stories of secondary characters, legends and so on will be scattered throughout the map, and to get there we will really have to immerse ourselves in this world, which will not tell us what to do and how to do it with simple marks on the HUD, but it will exploit wind, fauna and flora to direct us towards the goal. Unfortunately, to get there, it will sometimes be necessary to cross these maps by climbing walls, or by passing some very lackluster exploratory phases. Fortunately, a glimpse at the end of the journey will often pay off for the tedious journey.



There are no easy fights

Unfortunately Ghost of Tsushima suffers from a serious problem: his fragmented soul. During the game we will certainly be amazed by the setting and often the fights will be interesting to manage. However, everything will fall when we begin to see how the title of Sucker Punch is inspired by many other titles released over the last few years, bringing mechanics that are only sketchy. As we said about the combat system, the depth disappears after the first few hours and, even if in the course of Jin's adventure we will unlock many skills (by spending points on the various skill trees and increasing our fame on the island), in the end we will always use the same in the various challenges. They are an exception the duels, real one-on-one clashes that, especially after the first half of the game, will become interesting to deal with.

Ghost of Tsushima - Review, an end-of-generation ghost

For the rest it looks a lot like something already seen, and only the setting (with attention to the smallest details) manages to break this feeling towards the game. Ghost of Tsushima suffers from something that did not work: the idea behind the game - perhaps perceived badly a priori - offered an experience with a philosophical and profound taste. If the first part has been respected, above all thanks to the plot, to the various Haiku that we can compose in some parts of the map and to the setting, the depth turns out to be a simple game of mirrors, where each of them is a little gameplay dynamic. similar to the other.

In spite of everything, Ghost of Tsushima is now one of the few games that can tell about Japan: despite a few sentences out of the lines, the rest is a tender and passionate homage to the land of the Rising Sun, to its customs and traditions, but above all to all those people who, grown up on bread and Kurosawa, they want to finally experience that period with all its characteristics. The game proposes a average longevity (for the genre), giving a lot of space to secondary missions and extra activities, and gives the player the opportunity to live the experience as they prefer (using the Japanese, Spanish dubbing, or even experiencing Ghost of Tsushima totally in black and white).

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