Wanted to like this one as it seemed like the best LoG inspired crawler. It was smooth and didn't seem particularly buggy like some other knockoffs. I also like the fact that party members aren't completly silent, and participate in the story once in a while, like starcrawlers. Unfortunely, the balance is a mess and if you aren't into MMO style combat, then it becomes very difficult to manage very quickly. Even with the tactical pause. Bosses are total HP sponges, which feels off for the genre. Worst of all, XP is effort base, meaning the dps and tank will quickly start outpacing the healers or rangers level wise. Give this one a pass unless you really want WOW in a dungeon crawler.
The first game was an excellent dungeon crawler, so I was excited when I first saw that it was finally getting a sequel. Now Imagine my disappointment when what we get is something that throws everything that made the original great into a bin to try to make it more "roguelite". Instead of having a party of 4 engaging in turn based battles, you instead are a single character. And my first thought was "Oh this may be like Vaporum," And that would have been fine if that was the case, but its not. Combat is sloppy as all hell. You have absolutely no way of dodging attacks apart from rng, which makes combat against groups of enemies really unfair. Especially since your character loves to miss, even at the weapons optimal range. And skills don't seem to fair much better. Balancing is also a mess. The first floor went fine and I didn't think the worse, but then I got to the second and thought I had somehow ended up on a floor I wasn't supposed to be yet. Enemies jump in power and there are mini bosses all over the damn place that zap your health with just a few attacks. After getting killed to a giant spider that decided to block the corridor over and over, I ended up giving up. Maybe the game gets better later, but I just do not care at this point. Everything I liked about the first game is gone. There's barely any story or lore as well, so I really don't feel like I'm missing out. Oh, and even though this is finally out of EA, there are still numerous bugs. Unfortunately, this game may have killed any chance at getting a proper starcrawlers 2, so just stick to the first game, or pick up vaporum if you want a better game that what this is trying to be.
Talos 1 was an amazing game that I didn't think needed a sequel, but here we are. If tp2 is like Portal 1, than TP2 is like Portal 2. And like Portal 2, it expands on and in many ways, completely outdoes the first game. To start off with, TP2, much like TP1, is a puzzle game that is story heavy and very rooted in philosophy. While the first game was about the human mind, this one centers around the ideas of civilization and advancement. It can be a bit on the nose at times, like when it brings up environmentalism, but it isn't hamfisted and is as deep, if not deeper than the first game. The new cast of characters are also very likeable and interesting. Each with their own quirks and interpretations on what is going on. I have to say, the writing is excellent. The world building is also excellent. Unlike the first game the areas are open to exploration. Each main area is crafted quite well and the visuals are outstanding. This may not be the most impressive game technologically, but the assets and the way they are used... well let's say that right now this may be the most beautiful game I've seen. Now on to the puzzles. Well its more of the same basic flow. Lasers and switches, but with double if not more the amount of objects and gimmicks to keep it from being stale. And that's a good thing because the game is probably twice as long as the first, though it could do with a little less bloat in certain areas. There were a few puzzles that kinda made me think "developer logic" and I had to look up, but most of them you will find the solution staring you in the face with enough time. Oh, and they thankfully got rid of the mines outside of 1 specific area. As for the dlc, its hit and miss. The main focus, Isle of the blessed, is worth playing as it is a great epilogue and gives the characters closer. The other 2 are side stories, one of which is only worth playing if you are a puzzle master. All in all, Talos Principal 2 is probably the best puzzle game to date.
I prefer the 2013 Remake. There, I said it. While said remake isn't great either, its much more palatable than the frustrating original. Og ROTT did some innovative things for its time, but that doesn't translate to a good game. As such, Rise of the traid is more of a museum piece than a game I would Recommend to anyone that isn't already a fan of the original. The level design is an aggravating mess of switch and key hunting that's some of the worst I've seen in a long time. Not Redneck Rampage bad, but not far from it. Navigation is honestly the hardest part about the game. The levels are also loaded with death traps which makes the navigation even more tedious. As for the combat, its wolfenstein 3d on steriods. Which is fine, until you get to the enforcers and monks, which are tanky as all hell. And don't even get me started on the bosses. Rott as a whole is often more frustrating than it is fun. As for the quality of the remaster, well it's one of the best Nightdive has done so far. They added a fair amount of cut content, and a whole 20 level bonus episode thats about on par with the original. Oh, and the extreme ROTT expansion is also included but I would avoid that for the sake of your own sanity unless you are willing to play on low difficulty. There's quite a bit of options and QOL improvements that do help deal with some of the issues that stem from the games age. Visually, it looks far better than the original as well. And lastly, they did the soundtrack a great service by not only cleaning it up, but added 4 different versions of it. Which is good, considering the soundtrack is the one thing this game excelled at over wolf3d And Doom. They even added the 2013 soundtrack, which IMO is the best one. Fans of the original are definitely going to want to pick this up, but for everyone else, I would recommend the 2013 remake over it unless you want to experience al
While FMF2 is very similar to the first game, it does make some changes that make it feel like a proper sequel instead of an expansion pack like many indie sequels. The madness system has been changed up, that instead of unlocking and upgrading 4 different abilities, you can mix and match 3 different active and passive skills that all activate with a single key, though I really wish passives had their own slots, as many of them are hard to justify when they share the same slots as the actual madness skills. Guns also have their own upgrade points, so the skill tree has been completely replaced. Enemy placement and level design is also a little different. If the first game was doom or quake 1, this game is closer to quake 2's level design with the placement of enemies feeling like serious sam at times. The story is also not very good but its not like the first had a great story either. While I did enjoy the game over all, it does have a few issues. For one the above skill slots doesn't allow many different viable builds, thanks to how restrictive it can be with how limited slots are. The game also has performance issues, which is odd considering its not exactly a graphical power house. Still I really enjoyed the game as much as I did the first game and fully recommend it.
Chasm the Rift Was an Okay Shooter that was very much inspired by quake1. While that isn't a bad thing, it does take some of the worst aspects of that game and dial it up to 11. The level design is both narrow and often confusing which makes combat tricky, as you can't really move around enemies or their attacks. The boss fights are also awful, and are more of a puzzle than a boss. On the plus side, the atmosphere was well done for it's time and the gore and gibbing effects were pretty impressive when it came out. Everything else about the game from the sound design to the gunplay is pretty average. The game is also pretty short. As for the remaster itsself, its solid albiet pretty basic. The game runs a hell of a lot smoother than running it on dosbox (which this version comes with). Though the lack of new features or content seen in many nightdive remasters don't really justify its price tag. All In all, its an okay shooter and interesting part of gaming history, but get it while its on sale.
A Brutally fun shooter that is held down by a number of flaws. While maybe not a spirituald sequel to F.E.A.R. it very obviously took inspiration from that game. Combat is fast and brutal, which is by far the best aspect of Trepang2. Weapons feel meaty and powerful and the gore effects mirror that. The shotgun in particular especially feels like a beast, and doesn't fall into the trap many fps shotguns have of having to be near pointblank range to be effective. There's also a good variety of grenades and deployables as well. The game also features good visuals and exclent sound design. The level design, for better or worse, is right out of the mid 2000s, which is nice with almost everything these days either being AAA open world slop or indie boomer shooters. In short, it's a lot of fun. The problem? Well the game also has a lot of flaws. To start, the story is an absolute mess, and the way its told only leands to confusion, even if you find every single intel. I played the game twice and still only have somewhat an idea on what they were trying to convay. Its not good. Next, the amount of content. The main story is quite short. Only about 6 missions (5 technically since the last mission is split up into 2 parts), 2 more with the dlc and 6 side missions which are mostly expanded horde levels. The rest of the focus went into the horde mode, which sports over 40 maps with the dlc. So if you are more into these types of modes over traditional campaigns you will be in hog heaven, but for me I just ended up wanting a more complete story mode. It really shows a lack of focus and direction. There are other issues as well, such as only being able to use 2 guns. WHY? even F.E.A.R. let you carry 3-4. You also have to find attachments, which the game doesn't tell you where they are and some of the more important ones are late in the game. The AI isn't that great, unlike say F.E.A.R. Really there is a good game here but the issues make it hard to reccomend off a sale.
Very much a we have Max Payne at home and a mid 2000s romp. As someone who didn't care for Max Payne or bullet time mechanics, I actually found this pretty enjoyable. If you like those kind of games, you will probably like El Matador. The shooting is fairly solid, and it doesn't look bad for its age and budget. Its does have some bugs here and there but for the most part its stable. On the flip side, Story is a forgetable and predictable generic drug war in south america and its only about 5 hours long with no side content, so replayablity is tied to how much you enjoy the campaign. You could do a lot worse for that price and its more fun than a lot of AAA movie games and open world slop coming out these days.
Ion Fury was an amazing game that pushed the build engine to the limits helped kick off the neo boomer shooter trend. Phatom fury on the other hand goes for an early 2000s feel that seems to be going for duke nukem forever early beta vibes. Which would be fine, IF the game was good. unfortunately, much like bombshell, is just average at best. The retro 2000s ish looking visuals look good for what its trying to do, but it would be more impressive if, like Ion Fury, had pushed an older engine like unreal or goldsource to its limits, but instead its just modern unreal so it ends up looking artificial in some areas such as character models. It doesn't help that even post patch, the game has a lot of bugs, bad AI and poor performance. The gameplay is descent but would have been better if return guns hadn't been nerfed and the shot gun split into a pump action double barrel and a triple barrel, neither of which are good unlike ion fury's shotgun. The new weapons are a bit better, thankfully. Overall, just an average fps that would have been better recieved if it had been its own thing instead of following up ion fury, but I guess slipgate didn't like the fact that they were one upped by voidpoint and just couldn't let bombshell go.
No glory kill crap here. If Ion Fury is the Neo Boomer shooter for Duke Nukem, Dusk for quake 1 and Amid Evil for Heretic/Hexen, then this is the one for doom. The graphics are a great blend of sprites and 3d environments, the music and sound are solid and the guns feel nice and chunky. Theres also a built in level editor and menu for playing community maps and campaigns. Really this feels like the true successor to doom than what ever ID was doing. And this is comming from someone that loved doom 2016 and enjoyed doom 3. But anyway, I'd love to give this a 5 star but there are some flaws that keeping it from joining the absolute top of the Neo Boomer Shooter scene. The most notable is the save system. It may break the game for some players. It works like the Vita chamber from bioshock or medbays from system shock. Once you activate a checkpoint and die, you respawn with the only penalty being having to walk back to where you died, though you also take a hit to score and don't get the end level icon for finishing with out dying. I found the gameplay to be fun enough that it didn't bother me and just did my best to get as many deathless runs as possible, though I do wish it had a traditional system in it. Other than that, there are some performance issues, and the enemy variety could be better. The game also ends a bit suddenly and with blatant sequal/DLC bait despite having a minimal story. Plus you have to register and go online to do anything outside of the main campaign, so a bit of drm in the level editor and multiplayer side. Still, if they address the issues with a sequal, they could have something that surpases both modern doom and many other neo boomer shooters.
