When you have companions in your party, they’ll randomly interject in conversations, which is fairly common nowadays. I’d have conversations with people where’d they would randomly throw in crucial details after I should have already learned about them. It’s all so disconnected, like a bunch of different people just shoved random things together. But right as you approach, the game then kicks you into another cinematic, where you’re in a random desert, being chased by totally different monsters that you barely escape. You then move down the canyon see a herd of dinosaurs, and the game makes it seem like you’re moving into a stealth tutorial. The game then moves from cinematic to gameplay, and you’re suddenly inside of a walled canyon. You start off in a small hut in a plain, which is then destroyed. Even from the start, I could see it totally lacked that small touch Piranha Bytes games used to flout. However, the biggest flaw is how unconnected and immersion breaking it completely is. I will say that some of the dialogue options are downright hilarious, but sadly don’t hit nearly as hard in the actual conversation as you’d hope. Neither are fluid or easy, but thankfully the enemy AI is so terrible that you end up being on even ground. The ranged combat experience is remembering that L1 is actually used, and then fighting the sluggish controls to try and land a hit. The melee combat experience sums up as awkwardly waving around a weapon, clipping everything, hoping you deal damage. I’ve never ever complained about button mapping before, but I’ve never seen a set-up like this that I couldn’t fix before either. L1 is totally unused, triangle is for the quick menu, and you have a kick button that I never found useful, like ever. For starters, what the hell is up with this button mapping? The same button is mapped for crouch and jump, one function being a tap, the other one being a hold. It’s all the same, so there’s no excuse for how awkward it feels.Īt the very least, this is better than the combat, which is where the game finishes totally falling on its face. Just more bars to fill, more ranks to pay to improve, all things you’ve done before.
The feeling pervades the entire RPG experience. Skills require trainers, which is a Piranha Bytes staple, but it’s a hassle to hunt them down, and everything is so expensive it comes off as an unnecessary grind to learn basic skills. You have attributes, but you’re given so many points that you can kind of just throw them wherever.
The inventory system is one of the worst I’ve seen, especially on console, where it can be downright frustrating to navigate. It’s an RPG, so you have the usual mechanics here. I don’t want to say the alien design is a total ripoff of the Chitauri from the MCU, but… I ultimately wondered why they bothered with an alien threat versus going regular generic sandbox. And the hoops you have to jump through to get anyone to even think about fighting really undercuts the whole “extinction level threat” the game keeps telling you is imminent. Everyone sure mentions in passing how it’s a problem, but the game never takes the effort to actually show it. There’s a giant alien moon in the sky, and everyone’s still just chilling going through daily routines. The world’s factions and citizens are all seriously unconcerned about the whole alien invasion thing. The premise is never expanded upon, made interesting, or honestly even taken seriously. You’re an old retired soldier pulled out of said retirement to unite the people against an alien threat. And, when you’re releasing in the same window as Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077’s next gen version, and Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, it’s not the time to release it undercooked.Įlex II‘s premise is as generic as it comes.
It’s generic, clunky, awkward, and just not fun. Gothic, Risen, both are franchises with issues, but also plenty of ambition and lots to love. Piranha Bytes’ games have mostly been the former for me. That, for a variety of reasons, fall short of any possible line I throw at it. That being said, there’s still some games that are just… not good. And it’s worked well for me, finding plenty of games to enjoy that other people pass on. I look for the things that work inside of otherwise questionable games, appreciating ambition and accepting when some things fall short. When it comes to gaming, I like to focus on the positive.
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