{"id":996,"date":"2021-10-23T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-10-23T04:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=996"},"modified":"2022-07-17T17:07:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T21:07:47","slug":"ghost-of-tsushima-issue-39","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2021\/10\/23\/ghost-of-tsushima-issue-39\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghost of Tsushima \u2014 Issue 39"},"content":{"rendered":"

A ghost\u00adly com\u00adpelling tale<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Beau\u00adti\u00adful. Stun\u00adning. Breath\u00adtak\u00ading. The Japan\u00adese coun\u00adtry\u00adside of Tsushi\u00adma can only be described this way, and this is being mod\u00adest. Immer\u00adsion in the strug\u00adgle and bur\u00adden of a samu\u00adrai lord in 13th cen\u00adtu\u00adry Japan against invad\u00ading Mon\u00adgols is stu\u00adpe\u00adfy\u00ading once you real\u00adize that it\u2019s intri\u00adcate\u00adly craft\u00aded in a video game. You are the ghost, the Ghost of Tsushima.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wan\u00adder\u00ading around the real island of Tsushi\u00adma, Japan, in 1274 is a fairy\u00adtale. Every loca\u00adtion and near\u00adly every blade of grass or tree tells a sto\u00adry. That sto\u00adry is of samu\u00adrai lord Jin Sakai, a man des\u00adper\u00adate to save his home from an invad\u00ading Mon\u00adgo\u00adlian force led by the grand\u00adson of Genghis Khan. Jin gath\u00aders a coun\u00adter\u00adforce, only to be defeat\u00aded and near\u00adly killed. In the process of heal\u00ading, Jin finds allies to ral\u00adly to the cause and peti\u00adtions for help from the shogu\u00adnate to defeat the Mon\u00adgols. You become Jin in your quest to save his home and gath\u00ader weapons and sup\u00adplies, learn skills, acquire alliances, and fight to repeal the invaders. There is much to learn and see in the open world pre\u00adsent\u00aded to you even if you aren\u2019t a his\u00adto\u00adry buff or care about the pol\u00adi\u00adtics, econ\u00ado\u00admy, or goings on of feu\u00addal Japan. There are no time lim\u00adits for tack\u00adling mis\u00adsions, and you are encour\u00adaged to free roam and explore the land.<\/span><\/p>\n

Much like any oth\u00ader open world game I\u2019ve ever played, what I like to call the \u201cMetroid instinct\u201d kicks in and I find myself search\u00ading every nook and cran\u00adny to find hid\u00adden sup\u00adplies and oth\u00ader good\u00adies. Dur\u00ading my explo\u00adration, of course, I come across peo\u00adple who don\u2019t like Jin. I note the pres\u00adence of bon\u00adfires, which gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly indi\u00adcates who I like to refer to as \u201cdudes.\u201d Dudes are the type that are gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly hos\u00adtile to me and my inter\u00adests. Those inter\u00adests involve inves\u00adti\u00adga\u00adtion and sav\u00ading peo\u00adple in the gen\u00ader\u00adal pop\u00adu\u00adlace who require the ser\u00advices of a skilled samu\u00adrai and con\u00adtract killer. This is usu\u00adal\u00adly how the fight starts: Dudes notice me in my fin\u00adery and my mag\u00adi\u00adcal horse frol\u00adick\u00ading in the coun\u00adtry\u00adside and now they want to get reck\u00adless about things.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an absolute\u00adly fun mechan\u00adic, I tend to get into stand\u00adoffs with ban\u00addits. Now, my fight\u00ading skills here with a katana and tan\u00adt\u014d are not the best, but I have been known to make dudes meet their mak\u00ader quick\u00adly. Sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly, I\u2019m not great with archery, but I make the best of a bad sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion and stealth kill my way through the coun\u00adtry\u00adside clean\u00adly and quick\u00adly. My grasp of the con\u00adtrols is ten\u00adu\u00adous at best, but that\u2019s on me and my lack of skill and \u201cold\u00ader folks\u2019 reflex\u00ades\u2122\u201d. Ghost\u2019s con\u00adtrol mechan\u00adics are sound and easy to pick up with a lit\u00adtle practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I explore after my fights, loot\u00ading what I need, I take in the scenery. Ghost of Tsushi\u00adma is quite pos\u00adsi\u00adbly the most beau\u00adti\u00adful video game I have ever seen. I\u2019ve been play\u00ading games a long time, and I can\u2019t say until now that I\u2019ve ever been just wowed by a game where I specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly take in-game pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adphy to use as a back\u00adground. This is what you buy the lat\u00adest con\u00adsole for and the best TV<\/span> for: mar\u00adveling at the graph\u00adics. I\u2019m not even on the lat\u00adest PlaySta\u00adtion mod\u00adel (I\u2019m play\u00ading with a PS4<\/span> Pro), and Ghost makes almost every\u00adthing else look like stick fig\u00adures from the Atari 2600 era.<\/span><\/p>\n

With a mas\u00adter\u00adful audio expe\u00adri\u00adence, Ghost has the sound and feel of a Kuro\u00adsawa mas\u00adter\u00adpiece. You want to feel like the epic Sev\u00aden Samu\u00adrai? Turn on the Japan\u00adese dia\u00adlogue and Eng\u00adlish sub\u00adti\u00adtles. It\u2019s that type of expe\u00adri\u00adence. The nat\u00adur\u00adal ambiance is also nice. It\u2019s com\u00adfort\u00ading to know that pay\u00ading atten\u00adtion to sounds in the envi\u00adron\u00adment can save Jin\u2019s life when I\u2019m explor\u00ading. I\u2019ve lost count of the num\u00adber of times lis\u00adten\u00ading for audio cues linked to bears or dudes has helped me avoid an ambush.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it\u2019s a great expe\u00adri\u00adence, Ghost is not with\u00adout its prob\u00adlems. The cam\u00adera work doesn\u2019t always help when it\u2019s time to fight. Often, I\u2019m fight\u00ading the cam\u00adera to see my ene\u00admies and avoid tak\u00ading mas\u00adsive dam\u00adage. The cam\u00adera could use some refine\u00adment in lat\u00ader updates. And my oth\u00ader issue is the Leg\u00adends mode, added after the game\u2019s ini\u00adtial release. I was all geared up to play with my part\u00adner and then real\u00adized that this long-await\u00aded co-op mode does not sup\u00adport local play. We were hot\u00adly antic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00ading being able to roam around Tsushi\u00adma togeth\u00ader as we\u2019re gamers, engrossed in the tale of Jin who absolute\u00adly love samu\u00adrai. But we were high\u00adly dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00aded to learn that the only co-op sup\u00adport\u00aded is online. Though the mode is free, it was a mas\u00adsive let\u00addown to real\u00adize that we weren\u2019t going to be play\u00ading this epic together.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite some minor tech\u00adni\u00adcal issues, Ghost of Tsushi\u00adma hits the mark in a lot of areas. A com\u00adpe\u00adtent nar\u00adra\u00adtive, open world explo\u00adration, stun\u00adning visu\u00adals and an easy-to-grasp sys\u00adtem are just some of the good\u00adies await\u00ading engross\u00adment in Jin\u2019s tale of revenge and rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion in 1274 feu\u00addal Japan. Ghost of Tsushi\u00adma scares up a great adven\u00adture wor\u00adthy of all the praise one can muster.<\/span><\/p>\n