| Title | Biomutant tells a cautionary tale about cleaning up your own mess |
| Author | Tom Chick |
| Posted in | Game reviews |
| When | May 24, 2021 |
A colorful post-apocalyptic open world populated by intelligent mutated animals. The usual Ubisoft open-world with a touch of Gamma World and a Secret of NIMH vibe..
I’m just here to point out a couple of things:
If I didn’t know Biomutant had a looming release date looming
needs fixing (maybe).
the inhabitant of Biomutant mutter furry animal Simlish, which must have saved a bundle on localization.
Given the crazy naming you referred to, before that sentence, I am guessing that money was spent on medecines for the localization teams! (also inhabitant might need an s)
Biomutant is what happens when someone makes an Ubisoft game, but without Ubisoft’s resources,
Wait, so this isn’t an Ubisoft game? You misled me the whole time with your introduction!
I’m amazed you managed to play through this, given how boring and uninspired it seems. I mean it.
Sad to hear the impressive looking duck helmet is one of the few best parts of the game.
Thanks for the corrections, Left Empty! I’m always grateful when you guys point out errors.
Well, there is fun to be had, if you’re into that sort of thing!
-Tom
There is another one, if you’re into that, in a very good game series, called Monster Hunter.
I know, I’ve watched McMaster stream dozens of hours of it. :)
Policy of not pre-ordering pays off. A shame, I had some hopes for this one but it sounds terrible. :(
I love this idea.
A change in direction during the development process, leaving behind something half built on uneven ground, and furthermore jammed into the finished bits. Did no one have a broom? This is a constant issue throughout Biomutant, a game about an environmental apocalypse no one bothered to clean up. Biomutant is to game design what its ecological apocalypse is to the Earth. Perhaps it’s supposed to be a meta message about environmentalism.
So meta!
Why is this getting so much coverage? It was made by 20 or so people? Definite marketing triumph.
It’s a AAA-ish release nonetheless that had hit a lot of folks lists of games that were most-anticipated after some good E3 show type hype.
It’s sure priced like one
I think the choice to give everything absurdly cutesy gibberish names is the bit that will likely prevent me from ever even trying Biomutant. Not that it sounds that great in general, certainly not launch price great, but, yeesh.
Yeah the baby-talk names are particularly painful.
I am pretty sure that what Tom wrote there is the correct use of the idiom. ‘If not’ refers to the ‘looks pretty good’ part, it doesn’t negate the unpolished part.
Nah, the usual idiom is to use the ‘if’ clause as a qualifier that weakens whatever came before. The ‘if’ could be substituted with ‘although’:
Similarly, ‘if not’ is used to weaken or contrast the preceding clause, but because of the negation, it generally leads into a superlative to make it clear that the previous clause shouldn’t be read too strongly:
“The game looks good, if a bit unpolished.”
“The game looks good, if not a bit unpolished.”
The first sentence clearly communicates what was obviously intended, the second is clearly an inadvertant double negative.
I don’t mean to pile on, but I had trouble remaining comfortable in my own skin after reading this line:
Actually, I love this sort of back-and-forth about a correction! Any writer should. And while I’m still not sure about whether the idiom is correct, I feel @dithadder has the right idea:
-Tom
Just a random aside; I really enjoy Tom’s reviews not because I necessarily agree with his take (I often don’t), but they’re written in a way I get where he’s coming from and it’s always based on his own enjoyment or lack thereof.
