I have a pretty sour taste in my mouth after just deciding to quit Fallout London for good, after nearly 200hrs of play. Why ? Quest became bugged and I couldn't progress through the story any more. I was able to "complete" certain quests via console commands but that doesn't progress you in certain area to the next stage of a given quest line. It's a shame cause overall I did have lots of fun with this game. However it's many bugs (which I can't be bothered to list here) spoil the fun quite substantially. 3/5 from me.
Good stuff first. One of it's best qualities is the sense of exploration and adventure. The world invites you to explore. Once you set off on your journey through Magalan, you will almost allways have something new and interesting on your horizon to check out. The jetpack adds another layer to exploration and is very much appreciated. If you like open world games and exploring, you should dig what Elex 2 has to offer. The main story is OK. Where the meat of the game (story-wise) for me lies in ppl's stories in the world. Their inter-personal relationships, their past decisions, conflicts between factions and so on. Since I also played Elex 1, it was interesting to see how the world changed between the two games. I also like the presentation fo the game. The game can look quite pretty at times. The lighting system in particular, mixed with fog and some god rays, can make the scenery look quite striking. Voice acting is done well, making most characters believable. The music, well, it's there. I didn't feel the need to mute it so there's that I suppose. Now for the bad stuff. This game feels very dated. The best comparison I can make is Fallout 4. I said earlier the game CAN look pretty but only from a distance and in specific situations - when there's strong source of light in the scene. Otherwise, the game looks like it's 10+yr old. Same goes for character and facial animations or controls. It all looks and feels janky. The biggest flaw of the game is performance. I can go from 110+ fps in Ignadon to barely 60 in the Fort, what the hell ? It was even worse with the DX11 executable... Dips like that are very noticeable and distracting. I also had a problem where the game would just hang after the first two intro movies. The only way I could make it work is deleting Elex 2 folder from AppData/Local. It was quite annoying. If you are willing to put up with the game's jank, performance issues and other issues, it does offer a captivating experience. You decide :)
This is definitely not a game for everyone. I would strongly advise to watch some gameplay clips to get a feeling of what you're getting into. I found it rather enjoying. It's a very calm and simple experience. Most of the time you are going to explore the planet you landed on, collecting resources and doing very basic tasks. Don't expect some grand set-pieces or deep combat mechanics. That's not what the game is. At it's heart it's an exploration game with very light survival mechanics - resource hunting and crafting. I say very light cause there is an abundance of resources all around you. You really shouldn't have any issues with finding what you need. In fact I was almost always full on most of the crafting materials. Don't worry about the "combat" either. You can really only fight one type of enemy - the wirls. The rest you have to avoid, easy. Haven't died a single time during my playthrough. Just keep an eye on your fuel level, energy level and health and you'll be fine. Let's talk about ANI.. Gonna be frank - she is F'ing annoying. At first I found her musings on how it would be like to be a life-form from a perspective of a machine somehow interesting. It got old pretty fast. And then you add the fact "she" does have a tendency of nagging you during the game. Srsly devs, why ? Worse yet, as I have already said, you have to take care of ANI's health, give her anti-corrosion plates, keep "her" clear of sand storms, blizzards and rain and you have to literally carry her during platforming segments cause she can't even jump from a small rock.. Why ? Why put an inept robot to drag the player down ? Why not give ANI some unique abilities and the option to switch between ION and ANI ? What I really did like was the soundtrack. It is really good and suits the game's setting very nicely. I've even downloaded a few of the tracks and added them to my day-to-day listening collection. So to sum up - a nice and simple game with an annoying element. There you go :)
The title pretty much sums up my thoughts on this game - it's average, mediocre, bland. Yeah it has nice visuals but that's where the good things end in my opinion. First of all the game is short. Would have been even shorter if not for slow animations, slow movement, long distances to travel etc. The story isn't really good nor engaging, there's no suspense (it's supposed to be a thriller, really ?). I thought discovering the mystery would be somewhat satisfying but it's not. There was no time to connect with any of the characters presented in the game. It's like 15 minutes of story and the rest is walking. There are barely any mechanics in the game. The game is barely interactive. I know, it's supposed to be that way but god damn even TellTale games have more stuff to do. You just can't get immersed in world that you can't interact with for the most part. Maybe it's not my cup of tea but this game isn't much of game. It's more of a minimally interactive movie. I had fun with The Walking Dead. I was bored playing this game.
I've put almost 150hrs into this game and I can safely call it the best game I have ever played. The game takes you on an amazing journey with interesting characters, plot lines, enemies and so on. It does that while looking gorgeous. While not the end all be all feature of a game, it truly does help players immerse themselves in the game's world, if the visual fidelity is top notch. Witcher 3 delivers on that front and then some. Graphics in this game made me stop a bunch of times and just look at the sights. Yes, they're that good, even though they did suffer a downgrade from the footage shown before launch. The sound quality is likewise very good. From character voices, to music, from monster growls and howls to excellent environment sounds. The sounds while in witcher senses mode is particularly good. It makes all of the sounds seem to be close to you. With a good pair of headphones or a good speaker system it can make you turn your head once in a while. The story is great and I felt kinda sad that the game ended. I wanted more stories about Geralt and others. Well, that's what the DLCs are for and I'm sure to pick them up. Getting back to the main game I really licked how they made some of your choices affect the world. Even seemingly good and benevolent choices could lead to dire consequences for individuals and whole communities. I dig that. It was fun to see how your actions changed the world around you. There's lots more I could say about this game but many before probably have said enough. It's a huge game with level of detail traditionally reserved for much shorter, more linear games. It's a masterpiece of a game for me and it will stay at the top of my list for many years to come.
