FPS is not my go to genre. I find the genre a bit bland and I am terrible at them so, take my review with a bit of salt. I was recommended the Metro series and was told to start here. I like the game. Personally, I can't distinguish Metro Light's game play from other shooters save for a few aesthetic differences to the display screen. I liked the weapon selection and the gun upgrade system. The game play is fun and unfortunately a little repetitive in that you: enter an area, interact with an MacGuffin, and then wait for the bullet storm to ensue. But, this repetitive nature could be in part because of my lack of FPS proficiency; I was never quite able to pull off completing missions with stealth. I still had a great time playing. I enjoyed the music and the accents. Overall, what I really enjoyed was the atmosphere and the story. Don't get me wrong it is a video game story but, it was still pretty good. If you don't mind older games, wait for a sale and pick it up! "Now that is a tasty burger!" /10
This is one of my favorite games. Sleeping Dogs [SD] fits neatly into the third person action adventure genre seen in, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, or Infamous. What makes SD shine is the setting. Hong Kong [HK] has a cinematic history of action movies. SD take full advantage of this and integrates the 1970's HK action flicks, coupled with a 2000's depiction of HK and put them into one game. For around five dollars you can immerse yourself in an ~20 hours of excellent action packed story telling, street food, fashion, and fast cars. If your are willing to over look the age of the game and how that shows in the game's handling and graphics, I don't expect you to be disappointed. (Review of PS3 version with 16 hours of game play)
There is a tangible upgrade in the smoothness of play and graphics from the first installment of The Force Unleashed. However, there is nothing to captivate the imagination. The foundation of this game is an insultingly shallow story arch with completely static characters. Which dove tails with a lack of creativity in employing the mechanics of this game. Shock and awe are the only methods of problem solving and, since Star Killer has single handedly taken down a star destroyer in the previous episode, there is really no topping that. The list of enemies, situations and levels to play are severely truncated. You will find yourself repeatedly fighting the same battles, in the same places, running in circles, going nowhere with no one interesting. Add a few fan service appearances by well known characters, a flaccid appearance of Lord Vader, and here my friends is how you make a sequel. A frozen in the middle veggie burger, with a soggy GF bun served on a dirty plate/10
This game just got worse & worse to play; by the end I hated it. A few reasons... Leveling up: In general, combat earns squat XP. That being said you will gain a few levels from all the running back and forth from town to forest. There are 3 major skill trees & 1 minor skill tree. There are a total of 51 skills & each skill can be leveled up 2 times; for a total of 102. Your max level is 35 which leaves you with 34 talents to populate your skill tree. By the end of the game Geralt only can achieve a 33% in Witchermanship. And MAN do you ever feel it. On a vanilla run Geralt is exquisitely remedial at his profession. Expect to die. A lot. There is little narrative reason for this. Geralt in bread, borne, trained, and neutered for the job of monster hunting. There is simply no good reason for him to suck so loudly. The Economy: Not only will Geralt be forced to be an incompetent Witcher throughout the events of The Witcher 2 but, he will be broke as joke. Witcher 2 sports a savage sell back ratio of 1 to 24. Back in an era where a person could expect to only be able to afford one new set of clothes in his life time, Geralt can sell a sack of magical swords for roughly 20 Orens. Which isn’t enough for him to buy a pair of gloves. The first Witcher had a sell back ratio of 1 to 5 which is much more manageable. As with experience, money will come almost exclusively from quests. Combat earns you next to nothing. The easiest way to raise money I found was to arm wrestle. (If that isn’t a euphemism, I don’t know what is) Inventory: Geralt cannot haul more than 250 lb of crap. Which is strange because Witchers need a wide assortment of crap to witch. Perhaps there is some sort of “bag o’ holding” Geralt could employ? NO. Some spell that could help? NO. Perhaps Geralt could hire a mule? NO. But a transdimentional chest that is present in one location per chapter? Brilliant, YES. I just touched on the basics of why this game is awful. Refrigerated Gas Station Burger/10
This game is a hack n' slash with a Star Wars skin and a colour palate circa 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". I was extremely hesitant on making this purchase based on the more reviews about this game being a bad port. And, they are not wrong this is a laughably BAD port. I played this game on the PSP and PS3 and do not remember the game being this janky. Likewise, the keyboard controls are painfully bad; but SWFU plays decently with a controller. The story snuggles in fairly well with old cannon, it's fun, and best of all it is light on the SocJus agitprop. With a little love, this game could be most excellent. SWFU on sale and with a little forgiveness, isn't half bad. Ball Park Burger/10
Mother Russia Bleeds [MRB] is one of the bloodiest, face smashing, blood born pathogen swapping, zombie kill fest that anybody needing to release an anger-wad could have ever asked for... if it were put together a little bit better. Below are the three things that turned me off this game, and why I think you should pass this title by. i) Hit boxes The hit boxes in this game are so terribly finicky that you will often find yourself punching past or sliding by your opponents. Good luck landing a timed hit of an enemy lunging at your downstairs. You will miss. They will not. ii) Bad guys and their items hanging out off-screen Enemies can be bludgeoned off screen with relative ease when you are screen locked into an area. The enemy AI is prone to staying to the edges of the screen as well. So, should you execute a technique that has a knock-back effect, the enemy and any beating enhancements that they may be carrying are not accessible to you. Too many in fights in MRB take place at the edge of screen. iii)Volume of bad guys VS AI helpers Nothing defines a beat-em-up more than swarms of enemies frothing at the mouth to have their donkeys handed to them. MRB takes this to a higher level. You can attempt to beat every opponent on your own, but it can be tedious undertaking if not insurmountable. However, you can assign yourself additional computer operated meat bags. They are alright at full health, but I find that when you are both close to death, the AI will inadvertently take you down with its preset actions. (Perhaps the number of bad guys should be better prorated for how many human players are present, and/or give an options menu to change how the AI fight ad lib.) I am rather tired of the unfinished feel of many Devolver titles. Blee-yacht/ 10 [Review transcribed from my steam accout; 6.6 hours of play on record]
Hollow Knight is damn good and it is a hell of challenge. A screen shot alone will show you the game art is stunning and well detailed. The game trailers show smooth game play but that is only true after you get a handle of how your character moves and after you have made enough progress to start getting charms (power-ups). The icing on this cake is the most excellent soundtrack. You play a small insect warrior adventuring in the remnants of a fallen underground insect world. Choosing insects as characters in this game was an amazing artistic choice. Insects are, in an of themselves, fascinating creatures that have a wide variety of physical features and survival traits that are often unknown and unseen to most. The developers really incorporated that into the game design and play. As I had mentioned, this game is difficult but it isn't an outright punishfest either. For example, there are sparse check points for your character to rest and swap power-ups. Sometimes, a boss may be far away from a check point so you have to dungeon crawl to the big fight. The travel alone may set you back so that you cannot fight the bosses effectively. Additionally, each time you die you loose your monies and your revived character is not as powerful. The remedy is to go back where you last died and fight the ghost of your dead self. So, if you have died in a particularly difficult area or lost the place where you died, you are in a bit of a pickle. The bosses attacks are pattern based, so each time you die you learn, and eventually you smash in the boss' carapace and dance a jig on his gooey innards. I barely had the chops to beat this thing, but damn this game is good. 9.5/10 (Review transferred from my steam account; 89 hours of game play on record.)
In Crossing Souls [CS] you, your brother, and best buds embark in high adventure that spans beyond the coporeal realm. CS strives and succeeds in emulating the 80's genre of the latch key kids adventure; in addition to encapsulating themes of: friendship, team work, historically/scientifically inaccurate lore, and the value of family and community. CS nailed the pixelated graphics dead on; it looks great. There are 1980's americana nod winks all the way through. CS could be perfect... BUT: Crossing Souls is...well... kinda boring. You play a rotating roster of characters (TMNT on NES had this style of game play). Each character is meant to have a "unique" ability to push along game play. One character can climb, three can effectively jump, one can energize electrical items, there is a strong man, and another chews bubble gum and farts. With these combined abilities, you beat up specters from the neither realm and solve puzzles. There are no skill trees, equipable items, or in game economy. The combat and puzzles are simplistic and rapidly become stale. After I lost initial interest, I would just play to see the cut scenes. Then, not at all. The non-recommend I am handing out is not because the game is intrinsically bad. I think me not liking this game has more to do with timing of its release in relation of my life. In an earlier epoch of my life, a young 6-7yo me would enjoy this game. But I am old, grumpy, and spoiled for choice in a world of rotating seasonal sales and a cornucopia of almost daily modest spindles. More oft' than not Devolver games are a great choice for pixilated digital good times. Ultimately, CS suffers the same problem of other "very positive" Devolver produced titles --they are all high end potential. 6-Potentials /10 (Taken from my Steam account review; 8.5 hours of game play on record)
I had this game on my list for years and I just never got to it. I gotta say, it's been over a decade since the this game came out and it still holds up! I am sad to see the cancelled the fan update of KOTOR; the new graphics, would have been a much needed upgrade. Overall, it is nice to visit a piece of Star Wars that hasn't been corrupted by mus de tenebris malum. I had a great time playing it. Playing a gambling goody-two-shoes murder factory was hilariously delightful. I am not certain that a younger gamer, used to better graphics, would be able to get into KOTOR. I ran in to that problem when I tried playing the very first Fallout; it was unplayable (to me). In some places KOTOR gets stale with: dialogue, fetch quests, side games, glitches etc. But the problems of this game in the light of the modern day are more endearing than annoying. Ultimately, I choose to recommend KOTOR to those who like the idea of finding a dusty old 'Choose Your Own Adventure' and flipping through for gits and shiggles.
If ARPG's are your genre, stop reading, and buy this game. This game has elements of 90's ARPGs like the Secret of Evermore that have made ARPG's my favorite gaming genre. Hyperlight Drifter uses a pixilated art style that is reminiscent of the 16-bit era without looking sloppy. The story line is straightforward and mysterious, and dialogue is delivered in a series pictures. Never is a true word is spoken by any character in the game, but at no point are you as the player lost as to what is happening -- there is just enough of a push for you as a player to find out more. The game play is fun and addictive. As the drifter you are able to dash and slash enemies, or shoot the baddies with a plasma gun. The bosses are challenging and their defeat gives you a sense of reward when you finally crush them. I do have some issue with the controls: there are dashing puzzles that require precise timing to complete successfully. The game is unforgiving in this respect and can lead to explosive bouts of frustration. Also, I find that the controls have the Drifter prone to falling of cliffs (see aforementioned explosive frustration). The music complements the game well it provides the gameplay with an eerie ambience. Don't expect an epic music score. The music is more simple than the orchestrated pieces in blockbuster hits, but by no means is Hyperlight Drifter's soundtrack ineffective. Overall, I think this game is great. I love it. A solid 9.5/10. (Review transferred from my steam account; 53.5hr of game play recorded)
