Pros: + Offers a unique twist on the puzzle genre. + Interesting atmosphere throughout the game. + Interesting (but predictable) story. + Ran natively in ultrawide resolution (3440x1440). + Easy to pick up and never punishingly difficult. + Good music and voice acting. + Has a positive, "real world" message about solving problems in your life by changing your perspective. + No bugs or crashes of any kind. Cons: - The ending drags on a bit too long. - Offers a fairly low challenge (as was my experience; yours may be different). - Could use more variations on the mechanics in the game. Once you figure things out, there's not much more to learn, which contributes to how easy I thought that this was. - Like most puzzle games, it's really only good for one playthrough. Also of note is that it's a very short game. I don't consider that a negative in a puzzle game as puzzles get tiring for me after a while, but someone who loves puzzle games might be let down by the length. Two full playthroughs, the first one blind and a second one to listen to the developer commentary, only took me about 4 hours. You could definitely speedrun this in under an hour if you're into that sort of thing (it even includes a speedrun mode of sorts). I recommend this for fans of first person puzzle platformers (think: Portal) or anyone who's looking for a casual game for an afternoon playthrough.
The Good: + Old style "action movie as a video game" premise. + Not an open world game, but it does have large, open levels. + Satisfying combat (mostly) and a nice assortment of weapons and suit powers. + Each mission feels unique. + Doesn't overstay its welcome. I spent about 7 hours total. + Runs natively in ultrawide (with one caveat). + Still looks good after all these years with all the settings maxed. + No zero gravity, alien mothership levels (Refer to the first Crysis game if you don't know what I'm talking about). The Bad: - In game cutscenes have black bars meant to turn a 16:9 screen into 21:9 that they didn't bother removing for 21:9 monitors. - I experienced a fair amount of game crashes. Your mileage may vary. - Suit powers are sometimes underused. I used stealth and armor a lot, but speed and power only in specific situations. While some of that is owed to my play style, I just didn't find much of a reward in playing any different. - Level design can sometimes be a bit underwhelming and doesn't reward exploration. Finding the secret "back way" into a compound doesn't really yield results different that shooting your way through the front gate. - A.I. is a bit stupid (definitely a carry over from the first Crysis game}. Like, "OMG, my buddy just got shot in the head when he walked around that corner. I should walk around that corner and see what's up." - Story is serviceable but nothing to write home about. Basically, "You're a soldier, go kill stuff." You're not going to get invested in it. Overall: It's a fun distraction that should keep you busy for an evening or three. There's nothing very memorable about the game but that doesn't mean that you won't enjoy your time spent with it, even if you forget most of it after you're done.
I can't really say anything that hasn't already been said a thousand times about this game. If you're interested in old-school shooters, than this is one to definitely check out. From a technical aspect, it's amazing what these people have managed to do with the old build engine (for you younger folks, no, this isn't at all what our games in the 90's looked like). Unfortunately, the game's strength is also its weakness. It's old-school in every way and I've come to expect more from FPS games. This is a high speed, shoot everything, rinse and repeat, kind of game; best enjoyed by turning off your brain for a few hours. If you're expecting logical level design, cinematic presentation, or an in depth story, you won't find it here. But if you're looking for the frantic violence that used to get Joe Liberman's panties in a bunch, this is as good an example as any. I had no technical problems running it on a modern system and it ran natively in 21:9 (3440x1440). It also ran incredibly smooth given it's old school design isn't as demanding on computer hardware. Definitely a plus these days given that you have to win a lottery just to get the option to spend two months salary on a video card. If you're a fan of old school shooters or you want to check out what all of the buzz is about, this is a good one. Also, a note on the "controversy": I didn't even see the offending label in the game and wasn't aware of it existing until after beating the game and seeing it mentioned in the reviews, so I'd say that it's a non-issue unless you're looking for it. Regardless, it's a dumb pun in a game filled with violence and foul language, so why someone would care so much about it is beyond me.
The other Batman: Arkham games are fantastic and this game has more of that same formula. So why am I not giving this game 5 stars? -It's horribly optimized. It wouldn't even launch until I downloaded a specific .dll from Microsoft that the developers decided not to include in the installer for the game, or even mention was needed. And after I got it to run, it repeatedly crashed in the same cut-scene until I disabled fog-physics in the options menu. I should mention that my computer specs are way above the recommended specs for this game, so there's no reason why it shouldn't run fine. The developers were just lazy on the PC port. -Speaking of cut-scenes, there's a lot of them. For an action game, it certainly loves to stop all of the action and take away your control for a few minutes in order for something to play out. Seriously, I half expected to see Hideo Kojima's name somewhere in the credits. -It's full of busy work. Spoiler alert: You know all of those "optional" side-objectives? They're not optional. If you want to see the full ending, you're going to do all of them. Disarm every bomb. Solve every riddle. Shut down every checkpoint. There are literally hundreds of them. -The end boss is a cut-scene. Yes, seriously. Not even a cut-scene with QTE's. You just sit there and watch. -Hey, did you know that this game has the batmobile? It has the batmobile. Wouldn't you like to drive the batmobile? Hey, it's been five minutes since you drove the batmobile. Here's a puzzle that can't be solved without the batmobile. Here's a boss that can't be beat without the batmobile. Here's a building that can't be entered without the batmobile. Batmobile. Batmobile. Batmobile. -It gives you a bunch of gadgets then defeats their purpose by making enemies that can only be taken out in one very specific way. There's no player agency or creative problem solving. Just mash these particular buttons in this particular order and win.
There's a few good points about Greedfall and it's a pretty big accomplishment coming from a small studio, but it definitely needed more attention to detail in areas. Pros: + Interesting story and concept + Interesting setting + Varied level-up system + Varied characters + Decent graphics + Great sound and music + Fully voice acted + No major bugs that I encountered. Just a few small clipping issues and animation glitches. So what went wrong? Well, the biggest problem is that the level design is all kinds of bad. First off, it's not really open world. It's a collection of individual maps that you access via a travel system, each map being a system of pathways that you're forced to stay on. Secondly, there's nothing on the map to reward exploration. Multiple times I ventured around the map to find some secluded corner only to discover that there was nothing there. Or if there was, it was the same old generic loot that you find everywhere. Speaking of loot, weapons need re-balancing. Special, unique weapons are usually less powerful than an upgraded ordinary weapon, which make acquiring them anti-climactic. Mission design leaves a lot to be desired as well. Missions involve you running across multiple maps to talk to someone who tells you where to run to next. There's no variety. The missions also have weird trigger points that don't allow you to deviate from the planned sequence; like not allowing a door to open until after you've spoken to a specific NPC. And speaking of running around, I spent 52 hours beating this game and I swear that at least 20 of those were running from one point to another, and that's after making liberal use of fast travel points. Combat is fine, but uninspired progressing towards boring. The overall story is good and the characters are interesting, but it's still hard to recommend. It does less wrong than right, but what's wrong, namely level and mission design, is very wrong. It makes the game unnecessarily long.
This is a fun, short-lived, FPS that takes place in the "wild west". That's in quotes because it's much more of a fictitious presentation of the old west than anything based in reality, but I'm not saying that as a knock against the game. Dysentery and tuberculosis would be realistic, but not exactly fun. The story is told by the character Silas while having drinks at a bar and each story that he recounts is a level that we play through. There's not much cohesion between levels, but that actually works with this "playing a flashback" style of story. Plus, it means that there is quite a bit of variety between levels; fighting through old towns, mines, railroad bridges, moving trains, and in the mountains. The story itself is your typical tale of revenge and is both predictable and forgettable, but works to keep things moving forward. Your weapons consist of various types of pistols, rifles, and shotguns. You gain XP by killing enemies and finding secrets until you level up, where upon you get a skill point to improve your abilities with one of the aforementioned weapons. It proved to be a pretty stable game, only crashing on me twice, and only one of those being during a level. And it auto-saves frequently enough that, whether from a crash or taking a death, you never have to replay much of a section over again. Although I'm not a big fan of the art style in this game, it does look pretty good at times. The music is appropriate to what you would expect in a western movie. It's also short, which I consider a positive in a game like this, taking me about 6 hours to complete. If I had to say anything negative, it would be that I had to edit a file to adjust the FOV since there isn't a setting in the options menu. Even then, it never really felt comfortable. Also, the last level was the worst in the game, ending the game on a low note. It's not Red Dead Redemption, but it's fun if you've got an afternoon or two to kill.
This is a hard game to review. Its presentation, level design, weapon design, progression, and story all seem like it came from a game from 10-15 years ago. And while it would have been an impressive game back then, there are just far too many better examples of FPS games these days to really say that this is a great game. It's not bad. It just doesn't break any molds or innovate the genre in any way. And while its predecessor, Wolfenstein - The New Order, had a similar old school design, The Old Blood lacks that game's interesting level design. Difficulty in The New Order came from varied enemy types in large battle arenas, whereas difficulty in The Old Blood comes from simply throwing more of the same types of enemies at you, respawning ones in certain situations. To make matters worse, the last two chapters basically devolve into a bog-standard zombie shooter for the most part, ending the game on what I believe is a low note. The Pros: +The game runs really smoothly; much better than The New Order did. +Native 21:9 support. +The weapons, while "old school", feel well implemented and satisfying to use. The Cons: -Major texture popping. -Caused minor eye-strain. I believe that there's some sort of post process effect such as chromatic aberration or motion blur going on. Sitting further back from the screen and widening the FOV helped diminish the effect, but it was always there to some extent. People who are especially sensitive to such things won't have a good time with this game. -Boring story filled with boring characters. At no point did I ever care what was going on, why, or to who. Some people have complained about the short length of this game, but I don't consider that a negative mark at all in such a basic game. It took me about 9 1/2 hours to complete and I was definitely getting anxious for it to end. Recommended for FPS fans when on sale. If you're not already a fan of the FPS genre, then this game won't change your mind.
First, let me say that 3 stars is not a bad score. It's an average score, which is fitting since this is an average game. It's not a bad game, but it's not a great game either. Pros: + It has an interesting story that kept me entertained throughout. + Multiple ways to accomplish goals during missions. + Sometimes competing mission objectives forcing you to pick a side. + Mostly satisfying combat. + Runs perfect in 21:9 + Good soundtrack. + Meaningful choices that affect the story. Cons: - No voice acting. That's fine 20 years ago, but it's definitely a negative mark these days. - It has an interesting character development system that only applies to your main character. The other characters level up and you pick one of two upgrades to their skills. - It's not really a 3D environment. It's 2D drawn to look 3D. That's fine in theory, but in practice you'll be wishing for the ability to rotate the camera. Characters will often get lost in the scenery and you can't see what's going on. - The AI is pretty stupid. You can cheese most fights if you want by leading the enemy on a merry chase and picking them off a few at a time. - Inventory management is a pain. You can't swap items between your party members except at the beginning of a mission. If you pick up an item mid-mission, it either goes into your inventory (if you have space) or into your stash back at HQ. You can't give it to one of your party characters. - Party characters have fixed weapons and armor. You can sometimes give them an additional weapon if they have a empty weapon slot, but they won't drop their base weapon regardless of how terrible it is. And you can't give them better armor to wear. It took me just over 25 hours to beat, so a pretty good length. It ended just around the time I was starting to get bored with it. There's a lot of potential here and it would have been great with a little more time in the oven. As it stands, it's just good, not great.
This is a game that is obviously going to appeal to fans of the Terminator film series, particularly the first two films. It's a good game, but could be a fantastic game with a little more effort, especially with graphics and AI. Pros: +Does a good job of creating the war-torn future shown briefly in the movies in both appearance and atmosphere. +Music is spot on. There are some original songs and remixes of those from the movies, and they all fit in nicely. +Voice acting is pretty good. Not AAA quality, but better than I expected from a small game studio. +Story is good. Predictable, but it's well told with good pacing. +Lots of weapons and equipment to play with, some of which I barely got to use. A cool upgrade system for some guns. +While I wouldn't call it an open world game, the levels are pretty expansive. Lots of freedom of movement. +Leveling up system allows a bit of customization of your character. +Ran almost perfect for me in 21:9 with only a little bit of very brief framerate drops in a few parts. +Good length. Took me about 15 hours to complete at 96%. +Full keyboard control customization. +Only one game crash. Cons: -The graphics are pretty dated. It needs higher-res textures and better lighting. -Enemy AI is terrible. They won't chase you. Just shoot, hide, wait for them to forget about you, and repeat. Takes a lot of challenge and tension out of the game. -Level design is uninspired. Skills like lockpicking or hacking only unlock loot, not different paths through the level. There are invisible walls all over the place and if you're not careful, you'll get stuck on scenery. Not much verticality either. -Enemies often spawn in ridiculously close to you. It's very jarring and breaks immersion. -No physics. Object in the world are static and can't be interacted with. -Destroying Skynet bases gets old pretty quick (at least most of them are optional). System specs: Ryzen 5 1600, GTX 1080, 16GB RAM, SSD, 3440x1440 G-Sync Monitor.
A great little game that tells an exciting story without monsters, aliens, zombies, demons, or Nazis. It does have a few issues but I found them to be minor and not enough to warrant dropping the score. What it does right: +graphics are 99% great (see below). It's very beautiful at times. +a great musical score that avoids being overblown and distracting, but is exciting when it needs to be +good voice acting. Nothing sounds hamfisted or unbelievable according to the characters delivering the lines. +very good length for this type of game; doesn't overstay its welcome (took me 6 hours) +good pacing; moments of stress and excitement give way to long pauses that allow you to take in the views +runs smooth with no bugs (on my system at least; your mileage may vary) +native 21:9 support (looks fantastic at 3440x1440) +a fun, if technically unrealistic story about saving Earth (Hey, Star Wars isn't believable either, but no one complains about lightsabers) A few issues that might hamper your experience: -the controls aren't rebindable. Not an issue for me or I suspect most people used to playing with WASD, but a big issue if you don't. I think there's controller support, but I didn't use one so I can't comment on that. -a few low texture resolutions, most notably, the moon as seen from orbit. A bit ironic to have such a pixelated moon given the subject of the game. -the controls can feel a little floaty at times. I suspect that this was intentional given the low gravity setting, but it was a little distracting at first. -a few "what now" moments. Although I never got stuck for more than a few minutes. -a bittersweet ending. I prefer happy endings, but I saw this one coming from the beginning. -puzzles aren't very challenging. If you like hard games, this isn't for you. -no POV slider. My specs: Ryzen 5 1600, GTX 1080, 16 GB RAM, SSD, G-Sync monitor. I didn't experience any of the framerate issues others have mentioned; your mileage may vary.
