AngryShark92

+ Retro soundtrack tunes to remind when this franchise was still fun to play - Career mode/pro clubs needs more care and attention - Gameplay has devolved into an RNG nightmare - Frequent content with no variation - New chemistry system that inspires no diversity of teams - Timed SBCs & Objectives that exist solely to entice store purchases - Inconsistent gameplay whether by connection or dynamic difficulty adjustment - Pack rewards are exceptionally dreadful - Moments mode has been completely forgotten - Anti-cheat implementation that slows performance and DOES NOT WORK - Political pandering in a gambling simulator... ironic FIFA is the definition of insanity... My one point is for activating the retro soundtrack songs from previous titles during the World Cup update. That is my only positive. I would have said the initial gameplay version with specific acceleration types that made "big men" usable was a definite W, but they went ahead and patched this game into a gameplay style you have seen since FIFA 17... pace, agility, DDA (dynamic difficulty adjustment), meta (most effective tactic available) tactics, and cheap undeserved goals that provide zero satisfaction. I'll briefly mention that Career Mode got some attention that amounts to useless cutscenes and decisions that ultimately change nothing in the gameplay, and Pro Clubs is the same old 10 division, weekend cup, build your pro and hope your AI teammates don't throw the entire game for you. I know a lot of people hate it, but it is the main mode on FIFA, and the reason 90% of people buy the game, Ultimate Team. FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT), which was once, an exciting "journey to your favourite XI" is just becoming a menial task that some people might even consider a job, there's a promo every week, the meta shifts every week, and timed objectives and sbcs are released (almost) daily to help people to succumb to the fear of missing out and drive them to the microtransaction laden pack store. FUT has become an unsatisfying grind that leaves most players feeling empty because the pack weight (ability to collect better cards to upgrade your team) has been absolutely abysmal this year. Now, this point is subjective due to the randomness of odds (sound like gambling?), but due to the discrepancy of market value in promo cards, I am almost confident in saying that as a blanket statement. Also, pack odds are tied to "coin market value" not overalls, another sneaky trick by these predators. Now, if you combine terrible pack weight, unpredictable gameplay, time consuming grinding, DDA, coming up against the same XI players throughout your journey, and being rewarded with nothing, where would that leave you? Unfulfilled? That is the life for every current FUT player. Frustration and dissatisfaction in hopes that they succumb to the pressure of visiting the pack store to spend real money to upgrade their teams. It is more predatory than ever in this iteration of the football sim, and is the reason why Belgium has banned the game's microtransactions for violating its gambling laws, with the Netherlands & Austria currently investigating similar claims due to lawsuits. Jumping off FUT, for my brothers and sisters on PC, this game runs decently enough, for the most part, 60-80 FPS in 4K with an RTX 3080 / 9900K, ultra settings, hair strands off, FPS limit uncapped... but it should be way higher. FIFA 22 ran at 120-144 FPS for me just last year in the same configuration... the difference? From what I can tell, this version of the game is certainly a graphical leap forward so a performance hit is not "off the cards", but a ~50% reduction tells me there is another culprit and PC gamers... go ahead and say it with me: Stop putting anti-drm, kernel-level access, anti-cheat garbage in your games, it bloats the CPU and hampers its ability to send frames to the GPU. Unfortunately, that is not the worst part, and this is rather funny to me, but your "anti-cheat", DOES NOT EVEN WORK. I have never experienced cheating on my FIFA PC gaming experience outside of a common "no loss glitch" in draft mode in previous years. In FIFA 23, I have played invisible players, green time shot exploits, ultimate squad battles AI, and 99 rated silver players, across all of the game modes... This, all from a company that rakes in billions of dollars ($3.91B USD in 2022) in microtransaction revenue? And we're supposed to be okay with this? Also, I do not care how many proggies are offended by this, but again, EA, I am not interested in being lectured on politics from a company that promotes gambling to minors. It's a rich take, but keep your racist, divisive, manipulative, and factually incorrect political takes out of sports games. Use that ESG money to fix your servers you frauds. Overall, same game, different year, more predatory.

This could honestly be the worst iteration of Need for Speed yet. Driving style is the same arcade-ish feel of past titles (especially heat), the soundtrack is an abysmal mess with the worst music I have ever heard, the characters are all dimwitted zoomers who look and talk like they would have to google how to call someone to help assist with a flat-tire and would starve out and die in a car with a manual transmission after engaging child locks by accident in the process. You would never be able to convince me that these people would know anything about cars, or car culture, truly immersive. Also, congrats to EA on your improved ESG scores, I don't think I have ever seen a more anti-white, racist game in your catalogue. Nobody in the trailer or prologue was white, this makes me deeply concerned for my representation and playability as I will have nobody to relate to in the game, this is not diverse enough for me. I tried to put "WLM", "MAGA", & TRUMP" on my license plate, but they are censored for profanity, thankfully "BLM" is not. Whew. I gave you a point for improving the graphical fidelity over NFS Heat, short lived praise though as you morons managed to implement Denuvo and some of the worst optimization since Cyberpunk, and tank the FPS. Well done. + Improved graphical fidelity - Stale gameplay - Silly progression/unlocking system - Nauseating characters - Horrifically bad soundtrack - Piss poor optimization - Blatant anti-white racism and lack of diversity - Childish anime effects - AI that ranges from Elon Musk to Joe Biden - Boring city scape, Heat was better - No interior camera - Fixed button mapping on controller NFS is an arcade racer, not a clothing collection simulator with dancing emotes for Fortnite children, but seeing as Forza Horizon is heading the same way, lets just state the obvious... these games stopped being made for car enthusiasts almost a decade ago, they are now just casual racing sims meant to advertise EA's marketing partners, push monetization, and evidently delve into identity politics. RIP Need for Speed (1994-2010).

I said it back when HZD was out and I'll say it again, this IP does nothing to move the needle on RPGs. There is no captivating feature to differentiate itself from the monotony that is modern RPGs. This game has 2 things going for it... it looks a lot better than the original (albeit with terrible and underperforming graphical settings), and the fluidity within combat seems to have been improved. There is nothing else to really talk about positively. The game is boring, the acting is awful, the characters look and talk like wooden planks, the optimization is awful, the story is nonsensical and was clearly written by anti-white feminists, there's glitches and bugs all over the place, the side quests are repetitive, and the soundtrack is mediocre to say the least. Let's call a spade a spade here and mention a few things: 1. HFW was released in a broken/unpolished state, a state in which we, the gaming community, universally pan other releases for doing... Anthem, Fallout 76, Cyberpunk 2077, BF 2042, Dying Light 2, and deservedly so, because in modern gaming, the examples are endless... but somehow HFW gets a pass? Why? A female lead? A first party title? The “right message”? 2. The bots brigading these ratings, in conjunction with deleted negative reviews, that are making this site become less and less reliable for honest criticism are inflating this score from where it should be... 2 days ago, this game was sitting at a 6.8 user score, and just yesterday, had around 3500 "positive" reviews and around 870 negative reviews... you are telling me that there has been 900 positive reviews and only 60 negative reviews overnight? (4368 & 926 respectively at time of writing) For a game that has a plethora of bugs and issues that are preventing people from even playing? Of course, there are bots on both sides, no denying, but just like TLOU2, it feels like this game is being protected from criticism. 3. There is no heart and soul in this game. If anyone has played RPGs in the past 10 years, they will know that this is another copy of the same generic formula, question marks littered throughout the map with the same sort of encounters or loot, repetitive loot grinding to "craft" whatever nonsense to progress, a tool that is received later to have you backtrack and access "new" areas with the same loot, a perk tree that unlocks the same tiring abilities we have seen for years or increase whatever output by x%, dialogue options that do nothing, do these sound familiar? Artificial time wasting as popularized by modern Assassin's Creed. I am sorry to the Sony fans out there that are desperate for this game to be good because they are engaging in this pointless console war, but this game is terrible, and its prequel is middling at best. You have God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, & Ratchet & Clank RA, great games, which are vastly superior to this nonsense. HFW should be getting panned like CP 2077 & AC would, but alas, here we are with another awful RPG that slips under the radar because its too "important" to be criticized. RPGs almost always had that same, similar formula I mentioned before, the same perk/skill enhancements, areas of interest, and even bugs and glitches at launch, but what sets games like The Witcher, Fallout New Vegas, & Mass Effect apart from most of this modern garbage? Excellent writing and story-telling, well-designed characters, great voice acting, choices that matter, replay-ability, and creators that care about their product... HFW, and HZD for that matter, have none of this. This was more of a rant, rather than a review, but the truth needed to be said. We are losing great single player RPG games because of releases like this, and people need to stop buying these soulless IPs. Layers of pretty graphics covering a lifeless puddle of “content”.

***Patch 1.5 releases and fixes quite a few issues the game faced at launch, and while people want to commend them for this. I just don't. The game still has bugs, glitches, and performance issues after this patch, and I find it difficult to praise CDPR for an update 14 months after launch that STILL does not make the game complete and/or polished. The problem with a game like this is that we spent the majority of the decade hyping it up and impatiently waiting for it to release while our expectations skyrocketed and never came back down, couple that with the turbulent development period (of almost 9 years apparently) and an advertising campaign that rivals, or beats, some of the biggest releases of all time, and you end up with a product that is set up to fail. I thoroughly enjoyed this game for the roughly 40 hours I spent in it, but I will not glance over the fact that many people could not, the console releases (and lower-end computers) have been an absolute failure on CDPRs behalf, and I find it completely unacceptable when companies make promises and break them. This game had 9 years of development time and is effectively only playable on PC with high end hardware, and even then there are serious issues. Bugs. Call a damn exterminator level bugs. This is not early access, this is not a beta test, this is barely even a damn zygote at the moment of conception. The game simply should not have been launched in this condition, this is the kind of thing that gives game companies a bad reputation and it sticks with CDPR from here on out now. From cars inside the ground, t-posing drivers, HDR blackouts, and characters that can't move their mouths, to cars falling from the sky, being unable to "un-crouch", and subtitles that stay on the screen forever, any bug you have ever witnessed can be found in this game. I am a huge Fallout fan, and I can safely say that Bethesda makes less buggy-games than CDPR now... Put simply by Mr. Miyamoto: "A rushed game is forever bad, a delayed game is eventually good." Game-wise, there's a lot to like, there are some (emphasis on some) really well designed bits of Night City that make it a joy to take in, lots of neon lights, holo-projections, and cyber-modded characters that look really great, there are a great assortment of weapons and perks to personalize your character, and I certainly enjoyed the sizeable array of vehicles made available to the player. I think CDPR did a nice job in creating a city, but when it is filled with lifeless AI, randomly spawning police, minimal interior exploration, regurgitated event-quests, the same damn character model every 10 meters (seriously is this GTA 3?), and phallic items all over the place, it starts to lose its luster. Although... landfills, waste run-off, lifeless AI citizens, hyper-polarization in wealth... probably will be LA in 50 years, so I guess it's honest. The story has some good and bad, but I would lean more towards the good side, there's a lot of fun moments to be had and lots of quests I thoroughly enjoyed, and I liked the relationships (friends and romantical) along the way as they felt genuine and added some much needed personality to the characters, but I wasn't a fan of how it all wrapped up, to each their own I guess. RPG elements are kind of hit and miss, mostly miss. Your lifepath? Means nothing, it gives you a few unique dialogue options throughout and changes the opening cinematic. I wouldn't care if they didn't make such a big deal out of it. Choices? Not too many that reverberate through time to come back and make a difference. Character builds? While they can be unique, the perk points amount to being able to hack this or that, open said door or gate, or in a few rare instances, solve a side-quest quicker, nothing else. + New IP in a stagnant industry + Grandiose city + Fun character interactions + Story has its moments + Aesthetics are well done overall + DLSS implementation is top-notch - Way too many bugs - A few key binding options missing - Bullet sponge enemies on higher difficulties - RPG elements are not great - Lifeless city - Awful optimization across the board - V's male voice actor is bad - AI can be temperamental Overall, I think this game could be an 8/10 without the bugs, but because of said bugs/glitches, poor optimization, and a lot of broken promises around certain features, this game is a solid 7 for me. This will certainly make me look at CDPR differently, this game felt more like Watchdogs than I would like it too. It is a shame that people will not get to experience the good parts of this game because of all the surface level issues, but in all honesty, I cannot blame them for the 3-6 scores.

I cannot write a full length review on this because I really don't have the desire to, but in a quick synopsis... this is just another heavily marketed service game layered with MTX that releases unfinished and receives updates as necessary. This is an entirely anti-consumer practice and needs to be called out if there is any hope of receiving quality games in the future. + Beautiful world design and graphics + Fly anywhere mechanic is cool + Some fun co-op moments - Home world is lifeless - Quests are repetitive - MTX is unnecessary - Loot balancing is awful - Terrible facial animations - Boring story (from Bioware???) - Bullet sponge enemies - Weapons all look the same - Loading times (Played on an NVME drive, shut up "Journalists") - Service-based game Overall, this a bad effort by Bioware, it is sad to see as I thoroughly enjoyed Mass Effect 1 & 2, but it seems to be an inevitable end by now... Anthem may be the final nail in the coffin as EA has no qualms about shutting down a studio that does not meet lofty financial expectations. EA needs to give their teams more time to develop games, and not bring in anti-gamer consultants like Anita Sarkeesian... cannot understand that move, beyond bizarre. 3/10 is a gift.

Far Cry 6 is the worst entry in this series. It is another game that has clearly been produced by incompetent staff and forced out early because apparently there is no desire to put out a finished product anymore. Bugs and major texture issues, preachy political nonsense that does not make any sense, and it is just flat out boring to play after a while. There's little in the way of positives here, but I will give credit where it is due. The good is easy, the animal companions are fun, cute, and all around hilarious in combat that can compliment your "guns-blazing" or "sneaky-stealthy" style of gameplay, and the Cuban culture is modernized well-enough to resemble the way it was back in the 50s. The bad is overwhelming, I will summarize most of it in the +/- down below because I would need more than 5000 characters to dole out the harsh criticism this game deserves, but I will touch on the politics because it is just becoming a plague on the entertainment industry and should be called out at every turn. The political themes make no sense, I get that you activists want to attack everyone for being a "fascist", but Castillo, like Bautista who he is clearly based off of, is a Socialist (or Marxist) dictator. The Cuban Revolution itself was created by a far-left Communist in Castro, so I am not quite sure where the "fascism" is coming from? Unless you mean modern day governments with medical mandates & segregation? Oh right, my political opinion is not allowed, just Ubisoft Toronto & Shanghai, my mistake. Stop injecting this garbage into every title, the people playing your games are not far-left communist revolutionaries that are miles removed from reality, we are people who play games to escape this same political garbage we have to deal with every day. You want to make a game where we play as the Cuban Revolutionaries? Do it, sounds awesome, but when your game is clearly trying to make statements to parallel real-life modern day politics with diversity quotas and attacks on people who are not far left... don't be surprised when you get deserved 3/10 ratings and harsh criticism lobbed your way. Also, feel free to tell us why we should take political pandering cues from a company that is full of communist activists, sexual harassers/assaulters, anti-white racists, and has not put out an excellent title in almost 10 years... This pile of trash pales in comparison to any other Far Cry game because you managed to take an open world shooter full of over the top action, quirky characters, and legendary bosses, and turn it into a boring, repetitive, preachy, and dull experience that has terribly annoying cliché characters and modern political talking points. I'll even say this... if I could roam around this sandbox making my character stronger, attacking outposts/military bases, AA sites and the like with my favorite pet animal by my side... I would give this game a solid 5 or 6, but the fact that I have to listen to children dreaming of role-playing as the cowardly Che Guevara and incessantly being called by these annoying side characters, made this game an absolute chore to playthrough. Pathetic. + Animal companions are fun + Cuban culture is well done - There is nothing new or innovative here - The story is a boring slog - Skill trees replaced with GR Breakpoint RPG clothing - Microtransactions - Managed to waste Giancarlo Esposito's acting abilities - Cliché characters that are boring and annoying (they like to call you A LOT) - Textures that either look absolutely amazing or slightly worse than PS2 graphics - An HD texture pack that needs 11GB+ to work - Abysmal optimization - Instant respawns within enemy zones (We're talking Far Cry 2 level respawns) - Game is not very challenging and has no real difficulty - Has a $159.99 Ultimate Edition with a season pass when the core game is unfinished - Exclusivity, which means no Steam or Nvidia DLSS - How did you manage to forget about Italian language localization? Overall, there is nothing new here in the formula, just a new setting, an extra gadget, and the same mind-numbing gameplay you have already experienced from ANY other open-world shooter. All of the previous entries are superior to this one. I would suggest waiting until this game is like $20, even then, that is probably an overpay. Poor effort Ubisoft, just like Assassin's Creed, this franchise is on life support.

Flat out not worth it this time around. Forza Horizon 5 is absolutely gorgeous, it boasts a nice map full of beautiful vistas with varying environments and biomes, it has the same style of arcade racing that you're used to, and the car list, while not expanded too much, is still a very long and generous list with every detail on the exterior and interior included. Problem is, this game has nothing to differentiate itself from the last 3 entries. There is no new hook or feature to sell this one beyond the fact that it is in a different location, and while Mexico looks great in this game, I don't find it particularly interesting as the setting. Everyone wanted this to take place in Japan (Tokyo) and I think that would have been the right move, personally. The same issues I had with previous Horizons are still prevalent in this game, and they are simply that there is no sense of progression, everyone has an incredible car near the beginning of the campaign, I miss the days of starting with a junker and actually having to work your way up, there is none of that in this game, it is mostly instant gratification, throwing cars at the player left and right, some of which come through the terrible casino-style wheel spin mechanic. Clothing and emotes are just unnecessary, it feels like FH5 is trying to be like modern NFS or the old Test Drive games and it manages to be neither. This also includes masks, because there is nothing better than living your pandemic virtually as well, and muzzling your character in game so they don't spread the virtual virus. Smh. The inclusion of gender pronoun ideology and identity is just plain moronic, and is not something that should have been included in the game because introducing these awful concepts to children who want to play a racing game is borderline indoctrination. Keep your misguided politics to yourself. You do not need to pander to people looking to buy an arcade racer. Also, the amount of prosthetics feels like some sort of weird amputee fetishist's wet dream, and I am sure that community was clamouring for this as well. The characters in this game are all annoying, they are the same rehashed personalities of characters from previous games and adding voiced dialogue for our created character seems utterly pointless. Plus they are all incredibly ugly looking, and seem to be more "diverse" this time around. Are there no white males in Mexico? Weird. There are also several issues on PC that are making it much harder to enjoy the game at all. Constant frame drops related to GPU usage, a couple crashes, bugs causing the terrain to show pixelated squares and discolouration, co-op connection and syncing issues, draw distance issues, these are some of the reoccurring problems for me, (and others apparently) and while I know they will fix and patch them over time, this is the product that was released and there is no excuse for these quality issues from AAA developers. + Gorgeous graphics + Extensive car list + Obsession to detail with cars + Environments and Biomes are well done - Same old horizon - Poor soundtrack - No meaningful progression - Clothes and emotes in a car game - Frame drops - Crashes - Draw distance issues - Connection/syncing issues - Co-op doesn't work properly - Gender ideology/pandering in a racing game open to kids - Need to splash $150 for the full experience - Voiced characters are annoying and they look awful - Online load times are atrocious Overall, the core of Horizon is still here; big sprawling map, gorgeous graphics, lots of cars, content, and fun little factoids about Mexico, but the boring location, same old problems, plethora of computer stability issues, and pandering make this a poor entry in the series, and the "journalists" giving this game a 90 or 9 have never played a game in this series and/or are paid off as per usual. They missed the mark with this one. It definitely could have been a lot better. If you own Horizon 3 or 4, this is not worth the full price. ***If you don't want political reviews, don't inject politics into your games :

***Apparently there has just been a massive invasion of bots on Metacritic that are out trying to protect the review scores of certain titles, and thus these ratings and this site in general are now completely compromised. The only reviews that get removed are the negative ones, but the 10/10 bots stay up. Sort it out Metacritic. Look at the profiles of the 10/10s if you don't believe me. No other way to say it, this was a lazy attempt at a remake, not as good as Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, and nowhere near as good as Heart Gold/Soul Silver. There really isn't much here for those that played or own the originals. I have 3 huge issues with these games. First, this mandatory EXP share is making the game way too easy, it was a big flaw in Let's Go, as well as Sword & Shield, and to include it in a game that did not have it in its original version is a terrible decision. Second, God. Where is Arceus? As of right now, there is no way to get him in these versions, only a transfer from Poke Home if you had him in a previous game. Third, this weird blur effect that exists, which I have seen mostly in Tunnels and Forests, looks awful and seems really unnecessary because it only exists in certain spots and the rest of the area looks crisp and focused so I am not quite sure what purpose this effect has, unless its a bug. On top of those 3, I have found the game to be slower and more unresponsive in some areas, particularly in battles and conversations, and there are some backgrounds within battles that look "questionable", to say the least. Also, where is all of the content from Platinum? Just remake the 3rd iteration of each game if you are going to be this lazy, I miss the distortion world. Other than those issues, I think most of the aesthetics are great, the music is still great, the animations and models within battles (not a fan of the chibis outside of battle) are well done, and the nostalgia factor still exists, barely. Its a definite lazy effort, and I would only recommend it to newer players who never played the original Gen IV games. + Player models & animations are solid + Pokemon models are good + Aesthetics of cities/towns & surrounding environment + Soundtrack has not been ruined + Underground content has been expanded for the better - EXP share is a fatal flaw that makes these newer games way too easy, GET RID OF IT - Unnecessary blur effect - Arceus is nowhere to be found - Some texture issues - Responsiveness and hangup issues - Platinum content missing - A lot of unobtainable Pokemon - Forgot to add positive modern changes (TM use), but managed to include negatives (EXP share) - Endgame content is lacklustre to say the least - Subtle changes from the originals like blocking Wayward cave with strength, and making Eterna's gym different - Incorrect Poké showing up when using HM move - Dowsing machine is terribly implemented for a non touch screen console Overall, it just feels like they got "just enough" done and thus I feel like a 5/10 is a justified rating. Gamefreak is obviously turning its attention to games that provide more revenue, and like many other franchises recently, it feels like its all becoming stale because of the lack of quality and effort being put into them. Unfortunate.

Another game, another brigade of bots to protect terrible releases. + Sound design and atmosphere is solid + Great visuals for the exterior settings - Runs like trash - Story is awful - Fired a competent writer and it shows - Mouse and keyboard binding options are missing or broken with perks - Voice acting is all over the place - Unnecessary DRM - Boring factions - Illusion of choice - No Italian localization - Combat is not any better than predecessor - "Stay Human" mechanic is terrible and makes night time annoying, not scary - Co-op broken - Cross-play promise abandoned - Another game that is released with a plethora of bugs - $129.99 Deluxe Edition (Pre-order now for your skins kids!) When I heard we were finally going to get DL2, I was stoked, I thought Techland would smooth out the combat and give us a compelling story that the first game truly deserved, and when I heard Chris Avellone (Fallout New Vegas & Witcher 3) was on board, I thought this was it, this game will go from great to phenomenal. 2018 E3 rolls around and gives us a 40 minute demo showing some incredible visuals, decent combat, some brand new story branching elements, and even some map changes depending on your "choices". Hey, to any gamer out there that has paid attention to the industry in the last 7 years... guess what happened next? 2018 E3 Trailer was a lie, the project turned into a woke political fest, there was major infighting during the development, the game was being overhauled, Avellone was fired for sexual misconduct allegations from 8 years prior, the game fell into development hell, came back out, got re-worked, has no sense of direction, release date pushed back a year or more, and finally gets this release. Do you still think it has a chance at being good? No, poor optimization, terrible writing, keybinding issues, quest breaking bugs, co-op doesn't work for quite a few people, cross-play which was promised initially is out, visuals are hit and miss, your choices do not matter, the factions are boring, the combat is the same as DL1, the characters are all uninteresting, the stay human mechanic is just annoying, and sadly the game is just not fun. DL1 is a superior experience to this game, so if you have not played that, go back and grab that on sale. The graphics are still solid and the gameplay is actually enjoyable. DL2 is DL1 without any fun. I miss the old grappling hook and swinging around like spider-man, I enjoyed having firearms to ignite barrels with from afar, I thoroughly enjoyed the night-time challenge with the volatiles and the grappling hook parkour, it was fun. What happened? My guess is the usual culprit, Politics. Techland hired a bunch of activists who were devoid of talent and were not competent enough to produce a title worth playing. They complained about a "hostile" and "toxic" work environment and wanted to oust the CEO and lead writer. Avellone was dismissed after an allegation of sexual misconduct in 2012 (8 years prior to allegation), which was filed by a friend of one of his former partners who was upset about a breakup in 2018? Avellone also countersued the party for false accusations as the claims were never substantiated and he lost work over the last 2 years as a result. Sounds to me like they were lying, just to get him removed. Marchewka, Techland's CEO, seems like a bit of an "obtuse" boss, but nothing out of the ordinary to be honest. If these people did not want to work there, they could have just quit, Techland is its own entity, they are not beholden to shareholders like most other developers are, so time crunch, muzzled creativity, and employee retention should not be an issue at all. These employees clearly had an agenda, and could not be satiated. Point is, you cannot reboot your game, mid-development cycle, and release a half-baked game that is clearly broken from launch and then patch your way to a completed product over time, that is called "early-access", and on top of that, they have the gall to sell a $129.99 [CAD] deluxe edition with skins. The Denuvo inclusion makes sense now, I would be very afraid of piracy if I released a game in this state. Metacritic can allow a million bots to throw 10/10 ratings, but this is not a complete game and it is an insult to fans of the first game. I would give it a 2, but bots gonna bot, so here's a fresh zero. This is not the same Techland from 2015. Politics has reared its head again and destroyed another franchise. Shocker.

Bitter-sweet to have experienced Resident Evil Village, for one thing, I think it is an incredible game and is reminder of an era when gaming was fun, but, it is the only release in 2021 that I thoroughly enjoyed, and it is alarming that only one game (outside of Rift Apart, which is not for me) was even worth any gamer's time... RE8 can best be summarized as a modernized version of RE4, the similarities are everywhere (including a few subtle nods to the past), bosses with their own dedicated sections, humble merchants, currency systems, inventory management, unique characters, as well as fun puzzles and secrets to figure out and discover, and I am sure there are even more similarities that I am forgetting as well. Now normally, it would be incredibly easy to criticize a game for copying a previously released title in their catalogue (FIFA & CoD come to mind), but Village does enough to separate itself from its predecessor. Village is the perfect combination of Action & Survival Horror genres, and while I certainly enjoy the two, I do think this game excels more when it is focusing on the latter. The Village, the Castle, and the Beneviento house, are the prime examples of the horror element of the series, while the Moreau reservoir, Stronghold, & the Factory certainly buildup the action side of things. I enjoyed all of the areas, but the Village & the Castle are my favourite areas in the game by far. It seems like more effort and attention were put into those two areas than the other three, and I'm sure that is contributing to people criticizing the game's length. The boss fights leave a bit to be desired, but the bosses themselves (as well as the merchant) are all very well done, from their designs, to the voice acting, the lore behind them all, Village really did a good job crafting their antagonists, something I wish I could say for the protagonists. The setting and atmosphere are also top-notch, it genuinely feels like you are exploring an Eastern European (Romanian?) village setting, but the atmosphere is what really stood out to me, I felt on-edge the whole time on my first play-through, and even on bits of my second, and this is in huge part due to the horror elements of the game being well-implemented. I never felt particularly safe, and while I was anxious about every move of progression, I certainly enjoyed being kept on my toes like I did in RE, RE2, RE3, & RE7. This is when Resident Evil is at its best, when it nails the survival horror atmosphere, and to my mind, there aren't many games that can do it better. Why 9, and not 10? Simple, the story is just not very good, and it really shows in the third act, and without giving too much away, there are a few contrivances and explanations which just seem implausible in a desperate effort to tie RE8 to the rest of the series, and RE7 in particular. Also, the less said about Chris' motives and arc, the better, he feels like he was shoe-horned in for fan service because I barely recognize him as the same character in previous games. This directly ties into my second issue, which is that I don't really feel the same way about Ethan & Mia, as I do about Jill, Claire, Leon, & Chris. There is nothing that I can really relate to or latch onto them with that keeps me emotionally invested, and it is sorely needed for a game that crafted its villains as well as Village (& RE7) does. + Phenomenal balance of survival horror and action + Well crafted characters (villains & merchant) + Incredible atmosphere and tension + Sound effects/soundtracks are terrific + Setting is incredibly well done + Combat is satisfying + Replay-ability + Game is aesthetically gorgeous + Exploration and puzzles are fun + RE4 Inventory management and currency system + Mercenaries mode returns + Loads of New Game Plus content - Weak protagonists (Ethan, Mia, & Chris) - Story could be better, weak third act - HDR is way too dark (looks incredible though) - Audio syncing issues during some dialogue sequences - Ray Tracing is barely noticeable Overall, Resident Evil Village is an incredible entry in the series and a must play for RE fans or fans of survival-horror, it is the only game I would recommend from 2021, and I am glad that Resident Evil is still going strong in an industry that is stagnating and being drained of creativity. 9/10.

What the hell has happened to these franchises? This game is so far removed from its predecessors, the squads are gone, the server browsing is gone, the teamwork functions are gone, the scoreboard is gone, levelution is gone, weapon variety is gone, weapon choice is exceptionally limited, weapon balance is awful, you cannot stay in the same game to get a fresh start (if the connection works), you have to play a specialist now instead of playing a role in an army, and you cannot communicate with the enemy team because "all" chat has been removed, and you cannot switch teams to help balance them out. No need for a full length review, Dice has devolved horribly since Battlefield 4, Battlefield 1 was great, V had some great mechanics but we were told "Don't buy the game" because we didn't like revisionist history, and 2042 is the pinnacle of failure that doesn't feel much like a battlefield anymore. Oh and would you be surprised if I told you there are unnecessary political themes in the game? Diversity of characters and safe spaces in online chat are the selling points here, along with your skins and emotes. Yikes. There are a plethora of other issues that can be mentioned like leaning, UI changes, spotting mechanics, and others that reviews on here will mention in better detail. I gave it a 1 because I enjoyed the graphics, neat. This is just another disappointment in what has become an incredibly disappointing November mired by terrible releases that share one common theme... politics. Shocker. RIP CoD Vanguard, Forza Horizon 5, Far Cry 6, & Battlefield 2042. Fire all these activist developers and producers. I feel bad for the Gen Z gamers, having to grow up with these awful releases with alternate histories, when we had the likes of Bad Company, 1942, Battlefield 3, and so on, such a shame.

It is wildly entertaining to do these reviews because it is genuinely difficult to come up with a positive to boost the rating from zero. Let's see, oh yes that's right, the soundtrack is pretty good (apart from the modern rap, yikes) and oh wow Career mode finally got some attention. You can finally create your own club in "Manager Career Mode", which is sorely overdue, and in Player Career there are new perk trees and objectives to help progress your player through team and coach approval ratings. Then there's the negatives... but it says 5000 characters max so... yea. I'll try to summarize. Microtransactions are still garbage in an industry that should have left them behind ages ago and/or should have been legislated and banned as simulated gambling, but seeing as there is a massive spike in online sports betting and casinos, it is safe to say that the profit margin execs at EA are alive and well and will not be facing any criticism anytime soon. Hooray! This game has been slowed down in its tempo, which while not necessarily a bad thing, is a terrible idea for a game which relies on responsiveness and fast movement to compete when you are not lucky enough to have a strong connection to EAs antiquated servers. On top of this, the passing has become abysmal, and that is not hyperbole. There are way too many times when the "smart passing IQ" will send the ball to a place you were not expecting it to go, this happened last year in 21, and apparently passing is not important enough in a football game to fix. To add a nice cherry on top, sometimes your player will not even register a pass or register too late and cause you to concede more times than you should have. It is just a huge step backwards in responsiveness that is so critical in a game like FIFA and is by far the worst aspect of this game. The goalkeeping is all over the place, they save every shot in an 18-yard box, but will become dumbfounded by a finesse shot from just outside the same box. I would be all for a goalkeeper upgrade, but it is like EA has to leave an exploit available to balance it out, instead of making goalkeepers more competent so that well worked football goals actually feel rewarding. Player switching is another issue that has become unbearable this year, you can spam LB/L1 as much as you want to get that critical switch into your CB or CDM to defend, but it just will not snap to the right player for some reason, even when analog switching. A hint for some is that you can now click in the RS/R3 to select a player directionally, which is definitely a small fix, but it is very clunky and hard to do in FIFA which relies on split-second decisions. I will give credit where it is due, they changed Rivals & FUT Champs rewards for the better, making it a bit less **** to get better rewards, because most people, although they won't readily admit it, they play this game like a card collecting simulator more than an actual football simulator. This is ultimately due to the inconsistent gameplay, momentum mechanics, and horribly toxic community, and it is hard to argue against that. Also, EA have decided that all of the next-generation mechanics, such as "hyper-motion technology" and last minute goal celebrations will not make their way to PC because they did not want to "divide our userbase" due to graphic card limitations. Apparently the majority of us are still using Radeon HD 2000s and Nvidia 7800s, because last time I checked, FIFA runs on a potato and a majority of the userbase (at least on steam) are using GTX 1060s or better? Sounds like a bull defecated somewhere. In all honesty, I played the PS5 version as well, and it actually felt heavier and clunkier, so maybe it is a good thing that PC missed out on it. Cheers EA! People also will not agree with this part, and that is fine, but EA can relax with the political messaging, I do not need to be pandered to by a greedy, corrupt company that only cares about their bottom line, let alone multi-millionaire football stars that are miles from reality. Save it for your Twitter feuds that nobody cares about and take your BLM & Rainbow Laces propaganda and sod off. This crap is thrown in our faces in every facet of media and entertainment, why it has to be in this garbage FIFA game as well is beyond me. + Good soundtrack - Terrible gameplay - Awful delay - Microtransactions - Passing is abysmal - Goalkeepers are inconsistent - Segregating PC community (hell, even the 5 Stadia users got the next gen version) - Toxic community - Momentum swings still exist - Player switching is a chore - Responsiveness is a variable in every single game - Nobody cares about Volta - Political grandstanding Overall, stay on 21 if you are a casual PC user and unless you are a hardcore player, do not buy this trite garbage.

I won't bother repeating what many others have said, I agree with most that the core gameplay has not changed much from 20 and this is essentially a roster update for full price... again. The positives, EA have finally made strides in career mode with a few positive tweaks which has been a long time coming, but a year of development that has only produced a few tweaks to a mode that hasn't had any attention in years is incredibly underwhelming, but par for the course for EA. I will mention that I am genuinely enjoying a lot of the music in this year's soundtrack and the people who curate the music are the only employees I like at EA. Main negatives, dribbling is more loose and fun to run around with, but it is incredibly arcadey and unrealistic to a point where defending is becoming more useless and players with high dribbling look like they are bugging out. I really do not understand how there are objectives you can grind out for days/weeks or however long, and your reward is Tifo artwork... that's good, I don't want to improve my team to compete with credit card children, I just want my stadium to look pretty. Special shoutout to the FIFA Tubers who are designated "game changers" and don't do anything to help address community issues but instead come out with a video 9 days early with 120,000 FIFA points ready to entice those kids with a pack opening... you truly are a blessing to the community. Thankfully, not all of them are like this, but for those that are, you're as trash as EA. Oh and one more thing, this ratings commission or whatever, please remove your head from whichever orifice it may currently be stuck in... They did my boys in Munich dirty because their high school commission cannot get over the fact that they signed an exclusivity deal with Konami, yet they will continually overrate premier league players every year. This one is just my personal complaint, but it looks like the community has noticed as well. Let some other group rate the players, or poll the fans because it looks like you guys do not watch football. + Career mode improvements + Soundtrack is great, lots of unique tracks - Gameplay is not much different from 20 (or even back to 17) - Dribbling has become incredibly arcadey and laughable in precision mode - FUT is still pay to win (Did we expect this to change?) - Defending seems to be getting worse every year - Toxic community as per usual - Reward items in FUT have become more vanity-oriented (less packs, more aesthetics) - FIFA Tubers and Twitch streamers are useless - Player ratings are terrible, EPL bias is clear this year more than ever, F for Bayern fans like me Overall, another cash grab by EA, it would be nice if I could think of a FIFA that isn't like this, but as games move forward into more corporate-oriented directions, I don't think we'll see a good FIFA ever again, and it is kind of sad.

Feel the same way about this game as I did when I played it on PS4 a few years back, it is a gorgeous open world that does not do anything spectacularly well, but manages to always look gorgeous and provide newer players with a substantial amount of (albeit repetitive) content to entertain them for hours. I still hold the feeling that this game was massively overrated and there are so many RPGs that do it better, but it does get a few points for its originality and world design. Unfortunately, the optimization on PC is absolutely dreadful, and downright laughable at times, which is why it sits at a 3 for me. Framerate issues, animation issues, bugs and visual glitches, runs poorly on Nvidia hardware, and maybe a few other issues I have not read about yet. This is another case of a console port that was rushed to market for the sole purpose of extra revenue. DO NOT BUY it in its current state. Developers need to do better to earn the money from the PC market, these kinds of efforts are unacceptable.

+ Gorgeous world design + Peloponnesian setting is cool + Decent story + Some cool abilities - Spongey enemy types on Hard difficulty - Some facial and battle animations are very dated - Not sure about the racial accuracy of the populace - Kassandra doesn't really make sense, historically speaking - Repetitive gameplay - Repetitive side quests - Absolutely piss poor optimization for PC - Egregious MTX attempts I am a newcomer to the AC series, and this game does not make a great first impression. I will admit that this game is incredibly gorgeous with respect to the texture details and classical Greek architecture. It is truly a top notch effort from the graphic and environmental designers. I also thought the interwoven story between Kassandra and her family was decent enough to keep me interested. The gameplay really leaves a lot to be desired though, and while I thought some of the unlock-able abilities were cool, the sheer repetitiveness started to get to me. This game's combat cycle is awful, it was pretty fun at first for me as I enjoyed the similar stealth gameplay from Far Cry, but it got tiring and repetitive quick. It has the same bandit camps, cave hideouts, animal hot spots, and pilfering opportunities at every single Witcher 3 style question mark on the map. When the stealth gameplay inevitably fails at times, the combat can be fun, but most of the time it is spent slashing at sponge-like enemies that take 90 hits to neutralize while the animations go swinging in and around the body sometimes missing or hitting mid-air like some bad action movie. I will never understand why certain individuals within media companies believe that re-writing history in order to fit in political agendas is okay, and the case here is no different. There are certain races and gender roles within this game that just do no make sense for this era. Nobody cares if people from a wide spectrum of races and backgrounds worked on the game, we just want developers to stay faithful to the historical data and respect the culture without injecting their modern day ideologies into games. I don't believe that it is too much to ask for. In case Ubisoft needed an update, gamers don't usually like it when you force ideologies down their throat through their favourite avenue of escapism. Ubisoft obviously did not get the memo, because on top of those issues, they have decided to push micro-transactions in a single player game as "time savers". What this equates to for me is: "We want you to pay to skip content in our game". I did not have to take part in these "time savers" as I am generally a completionist and did enough side activity to maintain my level throughout the campaign. Others were not so fortunate and have been blindsided by this egregious monetization tactic that I will outright condemn every time I see it. Also going to just quickly mention how poorly optimized this game is for PC. I use an RTX 2080 Ti to play in 4K resolution, and this game hovers between 50-70 FPS on high with HDR on. If it was 70 consistently I wouldn't complain too much, but no matter how much I tweak the settings, I won't see higher than 90 FPS while my CPU usage sits at 100% with a 9900K. What the hell is going on here Ubi? Needless to say, this game has a lot of issues, but it also has a lot of potential to be something great. Ubisoft needs to stop trying to release these games every year, and start listening to their loyal fanbase who can provide the franchise's historical context better than I can. I will be taking a look at Valhalla, which incidentally, took more than a year to produce, just to see if the series has anything to offer going forward. It is not looking too good Ubi. 4/10.

+ Great atmosphere + Excellent sound design + Good soundtrack + Beautiful world design - Politics infusion - Lackluster story - Doesn’t break new ground - Same, tired formula - Same immersion-breaking stealth mechanics - Boring (pacing issues) - Anita handprints everywhere - Forced diversity - New characters are awful - Old and beloved characters are treated awfully and are unlikeable now The Last of Us (2013) was one of the best games I have ever played in my life, hands down. It always felt like more of a movie than a game, because of how well written it was, with the initially reluctant partnership of Joel and Ellie, the ups and downs, the wise crack cheesy jokes, the environmental storytelling, and the father & daughter bond that they shared and developed throughout their journey. The progression and character development that took place was truly something special that cemented these two as one of gaming’s iconic duos. The Last of Us II (2020) does not have the same deep emotional connection between any of its characters and it focuses more on preaching personal politics of its developers (and one absolutely out-of-touch consultant), rather than crafting an interesting, competent story with established characters. What you end up with is simplified, petty, revenge plot, that does not break new ground or take any risks. I’ll get the good stuff out of the way first. Naughty Dog is incredible when it comes to crafting atmospheric games with excellent audio, the wilderness of Jackson, and the streets of Seattle are an absolute master craft in environmental design and graphical quality, not unlike the first game, but certainly enhanced to a stunning level. I also have no complaints with Gustavo and his competence with crafting an excellent soundtrack that fits the dreary, post-apocalyptic setting. Where do I begin with the bad? There is about 15 hours of walking around with fluffy dialogue thrown in while you explore an empty landscape to find a few extra crafting materials, where you end up in a gunfight or infected encounter that you will try and stealth your way through, but ocassionally fail so that a cutscene or set piece can play out. Rinse and repeat. This game does nothing new, it has identical gameplay mechanics to the first game (with a few Uncharted mechanics thrown in) which, while that may not seem like a bad thing, makes the game rely heavily on its narrative to differentiate its experience from its beloved predecessor. The problem is, its narrative and character development are subpar at best, and downright awful at worst. The story tries to make you take it seriously, but after a couple hours of gameplay, you realize that this game has forced you into a standard and contrived revenge plot that you have seen 1000 times before. The back half of the game has you playing as Abby, who regardless of what she has gone through, I have zero attachment or sympathy for, and again, only to jump back to Ellie, who I am now starting to dislike? Who thought this plot was a good idea seriously? Anita clearly came in and made sure that all the diversity checkboxes were hit, white men are incompetent, all the females have no physically attractive characteristics, and to mention bigotry and fascism wherever possible. Though I’m sure Neil had most of this setup already. You pile this crap on top of the way employees were treated, Sony’s censorship of Youtubers who discussed leaks, and add in an incoherent, generic story… you realize that there’s not much here that you haven’t seen or heard (because the leaks were accurate) before. All of this, culminating in an underwhelming ending that is an absolute slap in the face to everyone who played and loved the first game. Last of Us (2013) DID NOT NEED A SEQUEL. It is an absolute step down from the first game, and gets a 4/10 from me. This is game is an outright travesty, and I'm sure it'll win awards and accolades because of the sales, progressive demeanour, and paid off critics, but you would be a fool to believe that this is anything but another corporate cash grab on an established IP. This is the gaming industry now.

May 27th, 2020 - Revised to a 9/10, as Denuvo Anti-Cheat Software has been removed in PC Patch 1.1. Well done Marty, and the rest of the id team for listening to the community. Hoping for smooth sailing from here on out. May 15th, 2020 - Updated to a 0/10, you cannot add Denuvo Anti-Cheat software that has kernel-level access in a May patch when it did not exist in the original March 20 EULA, it is a breach of trust and should be considered illegal. I advise anyone on PC to steer clear of this game until this Denuvo Anti-Cheat software is removed. This software does not belong in a mostly single player experience. TLDR Points: + Gorgeous world design + Great difficulty balancing + Decent story with lots of lore + Superb in-game soundtrack + New demons are a lot of fun + Excellent gunplay + Incentivized exploration + Incredibly well-optimized performance + Listens to community feedback - Occasional crashes and bugs - Platforming gets annoying after multiple playthroughs - Melee attack rendered useless due to blood punch mechanic - Requires Bethesda Launcher - Soundtrack launch mess is disappointing - Twitch/Amazon Prime drops isolate parts of the community - Arcade-ish design is a bit of a step down from Doom 2016 - A few glory kill and unique death animations have been cut from the game Doom Eternal is an FPS experience unlike any other, and is quite the gem considering the state of the gaming industry at the moment. Fast-paced, smooth-running, run & gun/rip & tear gameplay that is an adrenaline pumping masterpiece that will fuel any power fantasy, and with an absolutely glorious soundtrack accompanying it, Doom Eternal is one HELL of a complete FPS package. I have to point out the aesthetically pleasing environmental design by the team at id software, it is an absolute treat to experience all the different areas of the game and the amount of detail that went into them. It is also worth mentioning that the team is also capable of listening to fan backlash and admitting where they went wrong and fixing it without condemning the community, there truly aren't many companies left that would do this for their games. As for negatives, some of the levels (looking at you Urdak) have an unnecessary abundance of platforming puzzles, the game has BSOD/crashed on me a few times and can cause corrupted save files, Twitch Prime drops are deeply disguised micro-transactions, and the colours of the pickups are starting to make me feel like this game is less serious than its predecessor. Overall, Doom Eternal is an absolute treat for FPS fans, and alongside its own predecessor, its one of the few good FPS games that have been released in the past decade, it is an incredible experience that I would recommend to any FPS fan. It is a 9/10 for me, the only major downside being the bugs and crashes that can occur and ruin Ultra-Nightmare runs, hopefully there will be a fix for this in the future. P.S. Thanks for removing Denuvo!!!

It absolutely **** to have to write this review, but the community has this spot on. 4 or 5 out of 10 is where I landed for this game as well. I have played since Pokemon Red, and I have stuck with the mainline series, picking up every game up to now, as well as TCG back on colour. I do not care about or like Pokémon GO or Let's Go because I do not believe they are truly part of the mainline series. Pokémon Sword and shield is a bit of a catastrophe, it seems as though Gamefreak has decided that people like me exist in droves and will buy every game they release regardless of innovation or consistency. They are obviously correct as shown by the sales figures, but there really is no excuse for releasing such a poorly made entry. This game is incredibly easy, not even remotely challenging, my team was over-powered for the entire game up to the absolute final battle with the champion where one of my six team members finally fainted. The balance between tough battles and the rewards you get from the wild area are nowhere near fair. While I did enjoy raid battles, it honestly seemed like a lazy extra mechanic to grind with. While we are in the area of lazy mechanics and/or gimmicks... Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing is utterly pointless. It is the same battle, but you're Pokémon are taller and have all their type-moves narrowed down to one type of "special" move that does more damage than normal... To me, this is no different from Mega Evolution, and basically functions the same way... Didn't like it then, don't like it now. The plot is one probably one of the worst of the series and is barely "evil", especially if you compare to what Ghetsis & Cyrus were trying to do. I had no interest in the narrative or the lore of the legendaries which is a huge disappointment. Speaking of Ghetsis, this game may very well rival Gen 5 for the ugliest new Pokémon award... at least Black/White had a great narrative. Also, I don't really know who my rival was, really there was nobody because the game was too easy, but in the game there was 3 of them, and they were all awful. Hop is annoying version of Barry from Platinum who has no personality and blocks your path with annoying dialogue at every turn, Marnie is an emo who runs around with an antifa fan club screaming and ree-ing with no personality, and Bede, who I really thought was an old lady for 80% of the game is actually a boy who seemed to be the only one trying to block your progress and fight you at every turn. My true rival was my will to continue playing the game. Difficulty-wise, this game simply has way too much hand-holding, if I want to run off an explore in a certain direction, I can't the game points you towards the current objective by blocking off pathways with Pokémon or your annoying rival Hop. It also tells you which Pokémon are weak to what if you have battled them and type information during battles, gone are the days of experimenting against new Pokémon to discover their types. I don't want to go on a long rant, but there are so many things that made this game a chore to complete, which I have only felt with Sun/Moon (Not ultra, I enjoyed those two) & Let's Go. As for the national dex not having every single Pokémon available, I don't really think that is a bad thing, as there would be so many similarly typed Pokémon which would just be a waste. Having said that, if their excuse for not doing so was to improve animations and details, that was a complete lie. This game could have been played on DS with the amount of graphical detail that is lacking, not to mention shameful pop-in and fps drops. Yikes. + City design is exceptional + Soundtrack is great + Some (emphasis on some) new Pokémon look great [Corviknight] + Big fan of Zacian & Zazamenta, and the starters are very cute. - Way too easy - Too much hand-holding - Annoying characters - Lazy game mechanics (Dynamax & raid battles) - Wild area is a barren wasteland - Lazy animation design - Awful pop-ins - Graphics overall are bad - Most of the new Pokémon are ugly (Rivals Gen 5 imo) - No post game content after champion and legendaries This is the 3rd time I have been disappointed with Pokémon in the last 4 entries, which tells me that this series is becoming stagnant and being aimed at newer players from the GO & Let's Go group. I will not be rushing out to buy the next one for sure. They even said it was aimed at the hardcore/seasoned fans, and it really isn't. This game is barely a 4/10 for me. I am afraid this series will lose its seasoned fans after these recent entries.

It is hard to even play sports games anymore, I used to love playing FIFA, Madden, 2K, & NHL for the past 2 decades, but sports gaming is truly dead. FIFA was the one that started all of this with Ultimate Team. Admittedly, this mode was incredibly fun to play in its inception, since it was fun to mix chemistry styles and players from different leagues to create your favourite fantasy squad. It was a lot easier to create that team back in FIFA 09 when FUT was first introduced and pack odds were much more friendly. Today, in FIFA 20, as it has been for the past 7 years, the odds have become horrible and these packs have become manipulative tools to prey on children and adults who are psychologically susceptible to gambling, or do not have the patience to exhibit a horribly long grinding process. It really is criminal, and has completely destroyed sports games for me. For this reason alone, this game deserves a zero until they decide to be the Electronic Arts everyone loved in the 90s & early 2000s and remove these predatory micro/macro-transactions. The "critics" and "game journalists" also refuse to do their job, to call this stuff out and advise gamers against the purchase. Seriously... how can you highly rate a yearly franchise **** that does nothing to change their nefarious way they monetize their players and does next to nothing in the way of innovation? You're all an absolute joke. There are literally no positives that come to mind for this game. Only bugs and negatives. - Predatory micro/macro-transactions - Career mode is unfinished - Career mode is buggy - FUT no longer has single player seasons - FUT mode has unusual bugs with consumable application - FUT disconnects regularly which can ruin progress, or the plethora of bugs can do that too - FUT difficulty curve (Single Player) & scripting (Online) is absolutely unacceptable - 60 FPS cap from splash menu does not work - Gameplay has been slowed down again like FIFA 16 - Defending is an absolute joke this year - Game journalists still praise the game and do nothing to help consumers stop these predatory practices Overall, EA has no excuse for this release, and neither do I for buying this garbage. I just want to play some single player FIFA after years of FUT online, and I literally cannot have fun doing this, this year. Career mode is unfinished, broken, and buggy. Single player seasons has been removed from FUT... why? Modes should never be removed from these titles, only improved or refreshed. I have no interest in Volta, FIFA street will always be superior and it's never coming back. I skipped 19 because I didn't want to buy FIFA yearly anymore, now I am considering leaving sports games behind altogether.

I literally cannot find a single positive in this game, it is all negative. I got my Steam refund going after 60 minutes. I got this just to play single player but the game is the same as it has been since 2K16. Every year they just slow it down like I am running underwater and it is just flat out, not fun to play, even for single player. No positives whatsoever - No innovation - Same tired gameplay - Same tired cutscenes - Same tired graphics - Same tired mechanics - Same garbage marketing of gambling to potential buyers - All emphasis is on MyTeam monetization - Literally looks like a casino this year - Same bought-off critics and reviewers - PC optimization is awfui (FPS between 60 - 240 on a 2080 TI capped at 165) - They just don't care anymore, and neither do I. Stay away from this game, especially on PC. Do not buy this for your kids, if you do, find a way to block them from using your credit card online. This is not a basketball game anymore, it is casino simulator, with hints of a basketball game that was released in 2015 and provides a roster update. Waste of time and money, well done 2K.

TL;DR - Wolfenstein as we knew it is dead, thank god I got this for free with an RTX GPU because it is worth about $10. + 80s themes & atmosphere + Some good world design - Broken co-op system - Cheesy dialogue that repeats way too often - Bullet sponge enemies - Weapon-swapping galore - Integrated RPG mechanics need serious re-work - Micro-transactions do not belong in narrative-driven games - Lacklustre story - Repetitive and boring gameplay - Checkpoint system is terrible - Awful characters - Highly touted ray tracing features are not here - Just could not resist politics I don't know what to say, I loved RTCW, enjoyed 09 Wolfenstein, thought New Order & Old Blood were brilliant, and then we somehow just drove off a cliff at that point. I knew after the heavy-handed political themes from Colossus that this franchise would be rotten until another studio got a hold of it, but Youngblood wasn't even really that bad with political crap in comparison. It is just a boring terrible DLC that was sold for half-price of a full game. Positives, I love the 80s themes and the music that is sometimes playing in the background while I am searching for things, doing side quests, or just reading notes. I thought that that aspect, in conjunction with the 80s style world design really made me appreciate the work that went into it. That's about it. Negatives. Co-op system is a joke, I want to play these types of games alone so I opted to play with a bot that just stands there and does nothing but occasionally pull the myriad of conveniently placed two-lever apparatuses around the environment, give me health peps, and repeat the same cheesy dialogue every 1-2 minutes of down time. Makes me really invested in these incredibly written characters who were tolerable and humorous at times, in the beginning, but later I considered playing with voices off so my ears would stop bleeding. You know what else I find fun? Spraying loads and loads of bullets into enemies with a fully upgraded gun and run out of ammo before they die. In case, I didn't enjoy that enough, let's give them shields that are only susceptible to certain types of bullet fire so I can constantly change my weapons during fast-paced combat with a clunky as hell weapon-swapping system. Wait wait! There's more... Do you like paying for cosmetics? Especially where the ones that are potentially cool can only be bought with real currency? IN A NARRITIVE-DRIVEN, BASICALLY SINGLE-PLAYER GAME? Well, don't worry because the narrative is bad, but the MTX is a plenty. Also, don't confuse MTX (Micro-Transactions) with RTX (Ray-Tracing) because only the former is available in this game, despite what you may have heard. This game could have been fun, it could have had the gunplay of TNO and TNC with new forms of hybrid-RPG mechanics and really could have been a fun co-op experience for people to play with buddies to have some mindless fun, but this game literally screwed up every single good thing about it's two predecessors. The gunplay was a saving grace for Colossus, and the spongy enemies, weapon switching, and brain-dead AI companions ruined all that in a heartbeat. Without excellent gunplay in the current Wolfenstein games... What is there to stay for? The cringe dialogue? The ham-fisted politics? The micro-transactions? Forget it. This game should have never been released like this or by this studio... Wolfenstein as a franchise deserves a hell of a lot better than this garbage. All the critics giving this game anything above a 5, should have their credibility stripped... and to all of those on here giving the game a 10 because they believe it will balance out the zeroes... way to completely compromise your objective opinion on the game. If you were able to give this anything above a 5, I just have to ask... Did you start playing games in 2016? Did you play RTCW, Wolf 3D, SoD, 09' Wolfenstein, or even TNO/TOB? If you want to play Wolfenstein at its best, play RTCW, if you want updated graphics, play TNO & TOB. If you want to become a drone of today's current society, play TNC & YB. Congratulations on another game studio that would rather infect media spaces with their political agendas, instead of making a great game people can immerse themselves in to escape from all that garbage. This is a very soft 2/10.

Forza Horizon 4 is an excellent game, the UK countryside is beautiful, the dynamic seasons are a nice change, and the 450+ cars are all awesome... but this game has a couple drawbacks. The way they brought the UK countryside to life is brilliant and I absolutely love exploring the massive open worlds that playground creates and the addition of seasons brings a nice dynamic change to both visuals and difficulty. With 450+ cars with full details and interiors, this racing game is ahead of all competitors in that respect, unless you are a fan of Toyota cars as they have still not been able to include those vehicles in the game. Though it was great to see they were able to get Mitsubishi back in to the game for those WRX vs Evo battles. The online community has never been great in most racing games, and without any sort of punitive system like Gran Turismo's penalties and sportsmanship ranking, it won't get better any time soon. The progression in the game is poor to me because while you start out with a lower tier vehicle, the game will have you in a high end monster within the first couple hours as it will throw it's 450 vehicles at you every chance it gets. It seems like everyone has an exotic at level 10, and game progression is basically lost at that point in favour of collection, and having a wheelspin rewarding mechanic makes this even worse. Also, feel free to ignore the cringey characters, dialogue, cutscenes, awkward pop culture references, subpar and short soundtrack, and emotes from other players as I do. It is also important to mention that to get the full game experience... you should buy the ultimate edition, which comes at a price premium sadly. + Beautiful graphics + Excellent world design + More than 450 cars + All cars have interiors + Dynamic seasons are a great addition + Seamless cross-play with Xbox friends + Fun co-op story mode + Endless content - Online racing is still terrible - No real sense of progression - Wheelspin is a terrible reward system - Microsoft Store launching can be problematic - Full content requires Ultimate Edition purchase Overall, Horizon 4 is an excellent instalment and still worth the premium purchase price on PC, the game is a solid 8/10.

Let's Go is a poor entry into the franchise and I seriously hope this is a one off and that this type of game, never returns to the series. Seeing the Kanto region dressed up the way it is in this game is it's strongest highlight, as it reignites levels of nostalgia even after 20 years and FR/LG, having your Pokémon follow you around on this platform like HG/SS is really cool to see again, along with the way you can ride larger Pokémon like Arcanine & Onix in place of the bicycle. The only mechanic that meshes well from GO, is the way in which you interact with the wild Pokémon and visually see what you are about to run into and have a chance at catching. But, this game is way too simplistic. It is way too easy, it revolves around Pokémon GO mechanics and strips away everything that everyone came to love the series over. No EV training, no hold items, no abilities, no daycare breeding, no wild encounter battling, trainer battles garner little XP and can practically be skipped in favour of just catching the same Pokémon over and over again as it will deliver more XP, 90% of the time, the Safari Zone has been replaced with this awful Pokémon GO complex that is useless to players who dropped GO when it died in 2016, and Mew is obtainable if you pay more money than others, and replacing supplements with candies makes it too easy to change the stats of Pokémon in your party. + High levels of nostalgia + Redesign is excellent + Pokémon walk with you again + Wild Pokémon mechanic works well + Pokéball Plus is cool, and should be a hit with younger audiences - Way too easy and simplistic - No EV training - No hold items - No breeding - No incentive to battle trainers - Catching Pokémon like Pokémon GO is awful - No Safari Zone - Candies replace supplements - Pokéball Plus lacks buttons to use alone - Mew is bought and not found - Not much in the way of post-game content Overall, this is fine for newcomers and for trying to connect the GO playing population to the mainline series, but fans of the mainline series of games will find themselves a shell **** that they are used to. In my eyes this is a weird hybrid project that I will be sure to avoid next time, barely passes, in my opinion.

Black Ops 4 still has the potential to be a high end entry in this overly repetitive franchise but it is held back by launch day issues and no excuse to justify it. Treyarch had 3 years to complete this game and even cut out the campaign entirely which surely lightened their load to do so and make the deadline. On top of this, Beenox and Raven took over production of the Blackout mode, to make things easier as well. There is no excuse for the 20hz and 30hz server refresh rate on a AAA multiplayer title releasing in 2018, especially when the beta was at 60hz. The frame rate drop and amount of awkward 50/50 gun battle fights, dying behind walls, super bullets, etc. is beyond excusable for multiplayer and blackout. I cannot speak on zombies, as I have little interest left in that mode since I have had enough 4-5 hour sessions in previous titles. + Hero shooter aspect integrates well + Blackout mode is enjoyable when optimized + A multitude of customization options is always welcomed + Nice to see some old maps brought back to life + Gunplay is fun when optimized + New MP modes are fun (especially Control) - No excuse for abysmal server refresh rate - Half the MP maps are remastered - Blackout can experience terrible frame rate drops - Spawning is absolutely broken - Xbox does not receive any new content at the same time as PS4 - EKIA system is terrible - Stop releasing games as a service Overall, WW2 had an absolutely terrible launch, this game is not too far behind. I have played CoD since CoD2 in 2005, this game has potential to be great, but it needs a steady stream of updates to fully optimize it, and it should not have been released this way. That being said, I am still having fun with friends in this game and will not give it a red rating because it honestly does not deserve one. AngryShark92 is the tag for xbox, see you all out there! Disclaimer: As much as it was fun for me to write lengthy extended reviews that went in depth and were written upon completion of the experience. They are not met with the criteria of whether or not it was actually "helpful", and more based on whether people agree with you or not, due to this and other restrictions and flagging, comprehensive reviews are a thing of the past for me, at least on here.

I have loved every single rockstar game since GTA 3, and this game is no exception to the rule. You can tell that there was a whole lot of effort put into this title and it is understandable as to why it took so long to release. The vistas are gorgeous, the story and acting is excellent, and the amount of things you are able to do in the game are literally endless. Unfortunately, there are some glaringly obvious flaws with the game, the two major flaws for me are: the incredibly awful pacing for the storyline, there were some really fun missions alongside some really boring tedious missions, and it was hard for me to keep my attention on it and keep playing it sometimes, the other major flaw is the absolutely abysmal character movement and cover system that leave a lot to be desired. + Excellent story + Great voice acting + Great soundtrack + Lots of side activities + Gorgeous world + Some really fun missions + Extensive list of animals, customization options, clothing, etc. - Awful pacing in story - Incredibly boring missions and side quests here and there - Abysmal and clunky character movement and cover systems - Post game epilogue and explorable areas are less than interesting - Controller mapping functions are in desperate need of a keyboard - Online is heavily geared towards microtransactions and has a ruined economy Overall, it is a great game, and a good effort put forward by Rockstar, but it is not their best effort. Felt more like a really long movie and less like a fun video game at some points. Looking forward to GTA 6. EDIT as of 12/03/18: Red Dead 2's multiplayer is schemed towards micro-transactions and gold bars, which act as the premium currency in the game. The economy is totally screwed, everything in the multiplayer has outrageous pricing scales, or is geared toward encouraging the player to relieve themselves of grinding duties and purchasing gold bars due to paywalls on certain items. Literally everything in the world is monetized and I cannot help but feel like this is incredibly greedy and a very scummy move by Rockstar or Take Two. Due to this greed present in Red Dead 2 online, my score has dropped to a 7. The consumers do not deserve this, and I believe Rockstar should be better than this, but what do my words mean compared to the illustrious amounts of revenue rolling in from online MTX. I am severely disappointed in Rockstar, and I want to believe this is just Take Two pushing this, but as of right now, I have minimal desire to return to this game now.

It is somewhat bitter-sweet to see this game get these terrible ratings, on one hand, it absolutely deserves them for various reasons, and on the other hand, remembering how much fun I had with Battlefield 1942, Bad Company 1 & 2, Battlefield 1, 3, & 4... and seeing it devolve into this mess ****, is kind of sad. There are 2 positives for me that lead me to this score of 2/10, and they are simply that the game looks really good, and has one really good map (Twisted Steel), and a few other decent ones. In the negatives... The game seems to have been rushed out too soon (seems to be the theme of games this fall) and was incomplete. Every single tab you look at throughout the menus says "Coming soon" from key game modes to vehicle customization to the practice firing range. Then there was the initial reveal trailer and the whole Trevor Noah showcase that was an absolute failure, it was incredibly boring, and it was the start of an abysmal marketing campaign. In game, there is no class balance, medics and snipers are vastly inferior to assault and support classes which dominate the entire game, and on top of this, the time to kill is too fast and feels close to Black Ops 4. + Game is great to look at + Twisted Steel is an excellent map, and there are a couple other good ones - Game is an unfinished product - Poor marketing campaign by DICE & EA - Insulting the fan base is not a smart move - Credit system is an absolute joke - Revising history for the sake of inclusion did the game no favours - Grand operations are boring and lack the intensity that BF1 had - Unbalanced classes & fast time to kill hurts the Battlefield playstyle - No major battles from WW2 - Squads are reduced to 4 players - Does not feel like World War 2 at all Overall, I am glad I was able to borrow this from a friend who is planning on returning it because, just like Fallout 76, these companies have turned series I used to love, into service games that launch with half the content, charge full price, and do not become complete experiences until a year or two of updates have been injected. What made this game even worse for me, was being insulted by the developer for being concerned about ham-fisted socio-political agendas being thrown into games when they are a means of escaping it! Instead we are left with an immersion breaking, revisionist perspective, of the deadliest human conflict in history for the sake of inclusion, and some people wonder why gamers and the like, are upset with this? Hopefully this major sales drop and low community score are a wake up call for both EA & DICE, because I know that DICE can do a lot better than this, if they were given the proper time, and dropped the creative & corporate types who have no desire to make a game like the ones fans have come to love this series for. This was a travesty **** and I even feel like a 2/10 is a gift, do yourselves a favour and steer clear from this one, and adopt the "wait and see" policy before purchasing any games going forward, because if this game is any indication, we are in for agenda pushing, micro-transaction laden, unfinished games as a service, and the industry and its honest fans will suffer as a result.

I thoroughly enjoyed Fallout 3, 4 (more with mods), & New Vegas, with nearly 1000 hours for the latter two. I also enjoy the Elder Scrolls series, so call me a Bethesda fan if you want... This game is not a zero... There is content here, as much as many of you would not like to believe it... Fallout 76 should not come as a surprise to anyone complaining about the lack of human NPCs, this was disclosed at e3... so when you call it "empty" because of that, it is clear you either have not played at all, or played for 20 minutes but were dead set on hating it. It looks like some of you should be thanking F76, especially YouTubers, because it has brought more attention, likes, and clicks, than anything else many people have done, congrats on your success, but you're all spouting the same complaints as the previous person. Fallout 76 is bad simply because the game is unrefined and released way before it should have, whether that was Bethesda's or Zenimax's fault, it really does not matter, this game was rushed out and was designed to be a cash cow. Your fans did not want a multiplayer game, but were willing to try it out because of sheer loyalty, but this game is barely playable, due to abysmal frame rate, game-breaking bugs, uninspiring quests, useless pvp system, and an outdated engine... all of which could have been fixed, if more time was given to production. There are some minor positives in this game that brought my score to a 4, simply, the new map is huge and has some interesting locations and biomes, playing fallout with friends is interesting and nice to finally experience, the lore is there in the form of terminals and holotapes which IS NOT FOR EVERYONE, but can still satisfy the most extreme of fans and is better to experience solo. + Nice, big open world to explore + Interesting environment/biome diversity + Some interesting lore stories + Good to finally experience Fallout with friends - Bugs, bugs, bugs - Poor frame rate - Outdated engine - Solo is still better than multiplayer - No incentive to participate in PVP - Micro-transactions are always bad - Rushed production, should not have been released in this state - Clunky hud and control scheme that is somehow worse than Fallout 4 - Tarnished Fallout reputation for a quick cash in Overall, as a Fallout fan, this is an absolute disappointment, and I am deeply concerned for the future of Bethesda's games, this looks like nothing but a cash-in to me, and I honestly wish Bethesda would just stick to creating single player games like they promised to with the Save Player One campaign that I have not forgotten about, for a reason. I have no doubt that this game could be improved in time, but this business of releasing unfinished games needs to stop, and now that it has happened to one of my favourite titles, I am incredibly disappointed in Bethesda, do better!!!

I absolutely love Spyro (Original trilogy, all the sequels belong in the trash), it was one of the franchises that made me the gamer I am today, so I have a big bias towards the little purple guy we all know and love... But, that will not stop me from criticizing the franchise I love, especially when you try to remake an original trilogy that was a masterpiece to me. RIGHT OFF THE BAT, I have to mention that I am severely disappointed with the developers and publishers for simply ignoring consumer concerns and making a physical copy that should have been a damn download code, my copy downloaded just under 800 mbs from the disk and over 42 gbs from the internet... Why on earth was this decision made? I buy physical so I do not have to worry about relying on a server to stay active to play games, especially when there is NO MULTIPLAYER component... shame on Activision and/or Toys for Bob for this decision. When it comes to the actual game, I think they did some really great things with the art design and challenges, as well as achievements/trophies, and the voice acting is all passable compared to the original. I have to also give points to whoever allowed the option to toggle original or new music in the game, because that just adds to the nostalgia and was definitely a nice touch and nod to insomniac. Though I do have a few complaints in game as well, namely the really awkward camera control that seems a hell of a lot worse than the original game had, as it does not follow and shadow spyro's movements as actively as it should. It also takes longer to load up a level from the home world than the original did, which I cannot understand in the age of Xbox One X and PS4 Pro + Excellent graphics & remaster job + Vibrant and colourful art design + Fun characters + Music toggling option + Good voiceovers + A few fun new additions, along with achievements and trophies + Good balance of nostalgia and innovation + Fun gameplay moments we all loved are back! - Anti consumer business practices with online only download - Awkward camera controls - Has longer load times than the original games - Some gameplay mechanics like gliding/flying are worse than the original - A few minor bugs - Lengthy terms and conditions agreement right away for a kid-friendly game Overall, this was a great effort by Toys for Bob, but it was ruined by terrible business practices, and certain gameplay mechanics that original trilogy fans like me will notice instantly. This could have been handled a lot better by both the publisher and developer. It is an absolute shame that they did this because this game is easily an 8 but the anti-consumer practice of making physical copies obsolete is entirely unfair, it ruins resale potential, collectable status, and makes it hard for players with poor internet connections to even get the game running. Learn from your mistakes.

I have to preface this review by saying I have played every Forza game since FM3, and do consider myself a fan of the series, so let claims of bias go all out... Firstly, Forza Horizon 4 is an absolutely gorgeous game, whether in 4k @ 30 or 1080p @ 60 (Always gonna take the FPS in a racing game), the numerous vistas and beauty spots, the lines of the cars and their interiors, the countryside of the UK, and the seasonal effects are all brought to life with the enhanced graphics capabilities of this game. I can imagine it being even better on PC with 4k @ 60, but this is exceptional for console standards. From a gameplay mechanics perspective, not much has changed year over year, still has the same feel of old, with the same sort of customization and tuning that fans have grown accustomed to over the years. This game has a similar setup with different types of events for you to partake in, from street racing to dirt/snow trail rallies, there are a lot of races to complete and loads of content to keep your progression from getting too stale, including the showcases for each season which certainly lend themselves to fun gameplay moments. Seasons is a nice touch and addition, cycling through the seasons live and online happens every 7 days, which can be good or bad depending on if you are picky about what season you would prefer to be in, but there is always the option to go offline and play how you would like to. It is certainly worth mentioning that I do really enjoy the changeovers from what I have played so far, as each season offers new pathways, gorgeous vistas, and fun racing dynamics that encourage different car styles that players would most likely avoid otherwise. The car engine noises are hit and miss for me sometimes, some of them sound on point like they would in real life and some of them sound like raspy cereal box car toys... I do not know how else to describe that, sorry. Forza is also offering their usual DLCs, with the first one dropping in December, and if Blizzard Mountain and Hot Wheels are any indication, we're in for something good. I cannot mention DLC without mentioning that the level of purchasable content has been increasing over the years and this a big negative for me, I understand the Ultimate edition and how it comes with free DLC packs and all the cars, but if you do not wish to purchase that version or cannot afford to, you might have a really bad time with purchasing car packs and passes without it, the prices can get pretty ridiculous. I also have to mention the noticeable absence of Toyota's mainstream models, and Mitsubishi altogether, and while I cannot blame this on the Forza team because the circumstances and reasoning have not been released at the time of writing this review, it is terribly sad to not race around in my FNF Supra, or have a rivalry rally race between the Impreza and Lancer. I better not see them as a DLC pack either, or I'll be even more disappointed. I have also found it increasingly annoying how easily obtainable some of these cars are, and I am not sure if I want to consider this a negative because there are so many games that hide this sort of progression behind a paywall, but what I am trying to say is that I do not feel like owning a hyper car is something I earned or is special because it becomes easily obtainable after a few hours of gameplay for everyone, and subsequently becomes ubiquitous. I have to also mention that the soundtrack seems to either play the same 6 or 7 songs over and over or is just too short in total, which is not too impressive for me. Alongside this, keep in mind that this game is aimed at kids, so do not be surprised when you see emotes all over the place, mediocre voice acting, and over simplification of certain mechanics. + Absolutely gorgeous graphics + Same great customization & tuning + Extensive car list + Fun gameplay + Loads of content + Dual graphics options + Seasons offers different varieties of gameplay + Great online atmosphere - Too much purchasable content going forward - Not too much has changed year over year - Omissions of Toyota & Mitsubishi is sad Overall, Forza Horizon 4 is an excellent game, and is well worth picking up if you are a series fan or a car person in general, just do not expect a complete overhaul from the 3rd instalment. This game is an 80 for me.

The community's rating of 3 out of 10 is dead on. 2K is on par with FIFA/Madden, in terms of its over reliance on micro transactions, it is still egregious as hell, and incredibly anti-consumer. This is not a review bomb, this is me being deeply disappointed by 2k as they have not learned their lesson from 2K18... you charged players for a damn haircut... Anyways... MyCareer, the main reason I buy this game, is as "grindy" as it was last year. The amount of VC you earn after games and from endorsements and such have been slightly raised, but not nearly enough for people to enjoy the game without using a credit card. My own personal example should show how bad it is... I have played MyCareer for nearly 40 hours with my point guard, and without spending VC on anything but my attributes, I have been able to reach 74 Overall... I have gone up 14 points in 40 hours, with that math and ignoring increased cost for attributes as you level, it would take me another 71 hours to reach 99 overall... or I could just bring up the credit card and buy my way to 89 right now for $70 CAD. The sad thing is, the gameplay with a player with an overall between 60 - 75 is absolutely brutal. The game is relentless and pretty much forced me to play on Pro with 5 minute quarters when I really do not like to, but it is the "quickest" and easiest way to garner VC. This becomes even worse when the same silly collision animation exists where you will slightly brush an opponent and lose the ball for a turnover and an inevitable fast break bucket for the opponent... This should have been fixed, but I guess not... Alongside this, the grading system in game is the most punishing version I have ever seen in 2k yet, and drops your grade a hell of a lot more than it will raise it through silly things like "bad call for pass" and "hold ball too long" when I'm the point guard... The point is, 2K19 goes out of its way to choke out and throttle how much VC you can earn at every chance they get, and still charge way too much for clothing and gear compared to your payout per game. I DO NOT WANT TO USE A DAMN CREDIT CARD, and seeing how your MyCareer player is used for most of the online modes, this causes a clear disadvantage and an evil "Pay to Win" system and 2K should be ashamed, but it is probably hard to be when you count all the external revenue from credit cards and the forced product placement that is shoved in your face, every chance they get. MyTeam has some new modes that I actually like, including the unlimited mode, and the triple threat mode (3 on 3). The unlimited mode is a tournament style play-through where you can earn high level cards by going through 12 games undefeated and reminds me of the old road to playoffs mode from 2k13 that rewarded you with legends, and the triple threat mode is a fun 3 on 3 mode that let's you setup your 3 favourite players and scrim against other players to unlock rewards... Although, those rewards and the rewards from locker codes are all just chances, as you have to go through an incredibly stupid plinko ball drop game that is based on luck to get the reward you want... They get accused of promoting gambling and then implement a system that makes the game look like an online casino... Nice one 2K! Also, keep in mind that, while I do like these modes, they are also pay to win as you can simply buy VC and get better players than those who do not use credit cards again... Seeing a theme yet? I also have to mention that this business of having a difficulty multiplier of 0.75 to lower your earned MT on Pro difficulty is incredibly nefarious. Stop throttling and lowering MT and VC payouts and lower your damn prices... They did that, but ever so damn slightly, oh and hey, haircuts are free... Wow, thanks! The good news is short and simple, the gameplay seems a bit more realistic (pro or con, depends on the player), MyTeam has some new and better modes, and the dancers have better looking face models... That's about it. This game is a disgrace, it really is, it is not as bad as 2K18, but it sure could give it a run, this is also the first 2K game where I absolutely despise the soundtrack, I do not like a single song on it, but that's my opinion. This will actually be the last year I buy 2K, I love having a basketball & football (soccer) sim, but not at the expense of my credit card bill. Just another L for honest gamers... + New MyTeam modes + Dancer face models look better (IMO) + MyCareer story is not as dreadful as last years - Egregious micro-transactions - Nefarious pay-to-win scheme - Throttling of VC & MT is unforgivable - MyCareer is too much **** - Soundtrack is awful (IMO) - Graphics haven't changed since 2K14 - Gameplay mechanics are still broken Overall, 2K19 is a gigantic disappointment, and it's getting more difficult to convince friends to buy this drivel. This is a solid 30 for me. RIP.

Horizon Zero Dawn is a fun game, at first, it is a vast open world with gorgeous graphics that the PS4 Pro can show off very well, it has well designed machine enemies and a fun, fair combat system on higher difficulties... What it does not have is great AI, well written characters, good facial animations, and enough plot twists and turns to keep me coming back. Horizon focuses on a motherless orphan named Aloy who was outcasted by the nearby tribe and finds herself forced to assimilate and acclimate herself to the surrounding factions and dangerous lands respectively. As she traverses through the world she learns about her past and present, and the mysteries they hold, as well as how to deal with and eradicate the machinist threat facing the human race. Booting up Horizon and embarking out on the tutorial sections to learn the lay of the land was an exceptional experience, the never ending vista of wilderness and trees and the graphics in which they are shown are truly remarkable. Learning about the different types of attacks and mechanics for combat, as well as traversing the land, had me excited to break out of the tutorial section. As I progressed through the game, levelled up, and assigned skill points to certain perks, I was truly enjoying the game... I didn’t really notice the flaws for a while, and I was solely focused on coming up with new strategies to take down the tougher enemies. I love this sort of combat system and how the focus allows me to pinpoint certain weaknesses to give Aloy a bit of an advantage going into a tough fight, although the track highlighting is making it a bit too easy, I have to say. But I was moving along and completing quests without looking back. Then I just hit a wall, I found myself wondering why every side quest was identical to the other, why the facial animations were absolutely awful, why the characters all seemed to look the same and have no motivations, why the human enemies became so boring to fight, why the enemy machines acted like braindead zombies with tripwires and traps, why I’m rambling to myself like a psychopath... It was because the game just got utterly repetitive and boring. The story slowed down and I had no idea why these certain characters were even part of the main quest line, the side missions were all way too similar, the hunter lodge trials got buggy and became more of a chore, and for whatever reason I was outputting so much damage and unable to sustain a minor slap from a grazer? Balance, anyone? The game did not implement enough new and exciting twists and turns or armor/weapons to upgrade and collect, and I just found myself sneaking around in tall grass, sneak attacking everything when the enemies should clearly see me. Reminded me of The Last of Us stealth mechanics, utterly broken and immersion breaking. I just hit a point where I no longer cared about any of the characters and it became a chore to finish the game. + Absolutely gorgeous and large open world + Lots of side activities + Good variation of enemies + Challenging combat on higher difficulties + Good skill set system + Great enemy designs (machines) - Nonsensical stealth system and poor AI - Abysmally written characters - Abhorrent facial animations & lip-syncing issues - Repetitive side quests - Awkward camera angles during combat - Story got a bit boring towards the end Overall, Horizon is a fun game, for a certain period of time, but it gets bogged down by repetitive quests, boring story and characters, lack of new gameplay elements through progression, and awful AI and animations. I have no doubt that if they make a sequel, and rectify these issues, it would definitely merit a score of 80 and up, but as it stands now, I can’t bring myself past a 60. It is sad because I really enjoyed the scenery and the design of all the machine monsters, hope they do better in a potential sequel.

I have never played a game in the Uncharted series, so this is my first entry and bit of experience with the franchise. Unfortunately this game does not make me want to retroactively experience the previous installments. This is not to say it is a bad game, because it is not that at all, I enjoyed my time with it and honestly understand why this game has such a loyal and loving fanbase. For starters, this is one of the best looking games I have seen on console, this alone deserves a lot of praise because there were numerous times where I was looking out to a vista of mountains, trees, cities, and other landmarks and backgrounds, and I was genuinely frozen in place just looking at the scenery, not many games have made me do this, but this game sure as hell did. I have to hand it do the artists that designed the environments because it gave a new level of immersion and beauty. The storytelling and narrative surrounding the game are very good, there are really genuine moments where the characters are interacting with each other and it feels real and cinematic, and gives the characters purpose and reason for their respective personalities. It also helps that the character's all had excellent voice actors across the board, Sam in particular, was a standout in my opinion, he was the character I sympathized with the most due to Troy Baker's excellent performance, and the writing team that created his narrative. Nathan, Elena, Sullivan, & Rafe were also well done and believable. Though, Nadine seemed completely out of place in the story, and I do not really understand what impact she really had on the narrative, if at all. The gameplay is fun, for the most part, there are lots of little puzzles here and there that keep your brain working, and tons of traversing throughout the world through what seemed to be endless climbing with scripted sequences that were a bit too frequent for my taste, and became stale very quickly. This made many segments seem way too repetitive and uninteresting in some parts. The gunplay in this game seemed awful to me, not because of the selection or effects, but because the enemies were absolute bullet sponges and were usually able to hit me while I was in cover, which became incredibly annoying. A lot of times when I tried to escape a bad situation, (like a grenade tossed near me or to adjust to a better position of cover) I would get caught on walls and ledges while trying to jump and dodge away from gunfire. + Visually, this game is a beautiful work of art + Great storyline + Excellent voice acting + Well written characters + Some very fun gameplay moments + Good soundtrack - Some boring & repetitive segments - Way too linear - Bullet sponge enemies - A lot of predictable scripted moments - Very awkward gunplay/cover mechanics Overall, this is an excellent game with a strong narrative and some fun gameplay moments, that is aided mostly in the artistic design of the world around it, and while it was an enjoyable experience for the most part, it's awkward pacing and repetitive gameplay made it a chore for me to return to the game and complete it sometimes. Moral of this story is simply that this game was more of movie than an invigorating gameplay experience, and for that reason this game gets an 80 from me.

My previous review for this game was removed, and I have no idea why... I believe I gave this game a 3 if I can remember correctly. That was not an attempt at "review bombing", that was legitimately what I believed the game to be worth at the time of writing the review. I believe review bombing can sometimes be unethical, but in the case of NBA 2K18, this was more of an attempt to forewarn buyers to the ridiculous attempts made by 2k to promote the purchase of VC and microtransactions as a practice. The amount of grinding necessary to make a competent player for MyCareer was ridiculous due to the nerfed VC gain from endorsements, game to game performance, and the removal of the difficulty multiplier. It was clear that there was an egregious attempt to push the player towards spending real money to achieve any sort of success or to compete on a level playing field... This sort of practice is not good for the consumer at all and needs to be highlighted. Alongside this, there are numerous game mechanics that have not been fixed for a few entries now, like these random turnovers that occur on any sort of physical contact, players clipping into one another, awful character models that resemble ugly plastic zombies, cringe-worthy story characters and plot setup, recycled game audio cues and commentary, and worst of all, a terrible server system with numerous latency issues for a vast majority of players. I cannot even remember a positive thing I would have said previously or could say now to help the score rise above zero. It is a shame my original review was removed. It is not difficult to tell why this game was rated so terribly by the community, and this was never an attempt to troll or waste anybody's time. It was to point out that this game was, for lack of a better term, just awful, and those that gave this game a high score are not being honest with consumers who were potential buyers of this product. Please do not start removing reviews because they have low scores, it is an attempt for fans to have their dissatisfaction with a franchise they are passionate about, heard and appreciated so that the next product can be improved upon. I would not make a review if I did not care about the direction in which a franchise is heading, good games deserve praise, bad games deserve critique, but please do better with your weeding out of troll reviews and unethical review bombing.

God of War is definitely one of the rare beacons of light in the war against single player, narrative-driven games. This game is one hell of an experience and definitely one of the better games on the PS4 console. The game is very similar to The Last of Us due to the adult-child companion journey and the more I played it, the more the comparisons kept coming back. Kratos and his son, Atreus go through an incredibly similar journey to that of Joel & Ellie as most of the narrative focuses on their personality and character building. Though, the backstory of Kratos & Atreus is not as strong as that of Joel & Ellie's and so the relationship dynamic is not as interesting. This is a nice journey to experience and watching the characters evolve can be rewarding and fun to experience and go through, and while I cannot figure out whether or not to classify this as a semi-rpg type game, it is extremely linear with repetitive sections and puzzles. Yes, there are moments where you are free to explore, but the areas you can explore all look the same and involve the same mechanics as every other part of the game. Now without sounding like a complete downer on this game, I thoroughly enjoyed this story, the combat mechanics, combos, and fights are all incredibly fun to take part in, and some of the side quests were enjoyable and rewarding, but above all else, this game got the most points from me for the absolutely stunning visuals and attention to detail by the artists. Alongside this, I have to mention that the Valkyrie battles were some of the most challenging, tough, and rewarding boss battles I have seen in a game in this generation, outside of Dark Souls. + Excellent visuals + Excellent world-building + Good story + Great adventure + Fun gameplay + Loads of activities and side quests (favours) + Fun & challenging boss battles (especially valkyries) - Linear gameplay - Repetitive combat, exploration areas, enemy encounters, and puzzle mechanics - No real variety of weapons - Not as memorable as older God of War games Overall, this was an enjoyable game, and is something that Sony can be happy about having as an exclusive for their console, and while this game was something incredible to experience, in the larger scale of all the God of War games, this might be the weakest of the four. This is an 85/8.5 for me.

Pokemon Ultra Sun kinda fills out what the original version should have been, from the plethora of legendaries to capture, to the well rounded side quests/activities, this game delivers in a way that the original version really couldn't. In addition, this version is a bit more challenging which is a welcomed addition seeing as most of these games tend to be a breeze when it comes to difficulty. The wormhole travel is also fun and the ability to catch a lot more Pokémon from different regions in this version is also a great addition. It's not all perfect in the Alola region, as a Pokémon player for nearly 22 years now, these modern games are really starting to push it with the amount of chatter and robotic actions from the npcs you encounter or travel with. What I mean by this, is that there is simply too many moments throughout the journey where you are stopped in your tracks to have a lengthy conversation about topics that are repeated and regurgitated over and over and it is becoming tiresome and it completely breaks the pace of the story. Please for the love of Ultra Beasts, Gamefreak please cut this down or implement a skip button, I sometimes find myself just forgetting about the plot entirely because I'm just spamming A + B so I can get back to exploring and battling, which is what makes these games fun. + Fun gameplay (battles & explorations) + Excellent visuals + Great soundtrack + Refined arena (Pokémon Stadium) mechanics + Loads of side quests/activities + Great legendaries and lore + The surfing mini game is fun with a classic reward + Poke Pelago & Refresh are fun - Too much dialogue that is un-skippable, narrative was never this series' strongpoint - Wormhole travel controls are awkward - Some useless side activities imo - Uninteresting npcs and side characters I also have to mention that I am not sure I like the sequels direction they are taking, feel like the additions made in the sequels should be included in the original version for a single release, rotating with a refresh of the older games in between. Overall this is a solid effort that should have been part of the original release, but they did get it right regardless, and the Alola region proves to be another solid entry in the franchise that will be fun for fans of the series to explore. This game is an 85/8.5 for me.

Alright let's get 2 things out of the way off the bat... 1. Micro-transactions are present in the game in the form of cosmetic camos and skins for weapons and vehicles. I am not bothered by it, but I can understand why people would be as they can slow down loading screens for shops and such as it loads online content first. Along with the over-arching principle of MTs. 2. Political commentary is NOT present in this game and that's the way it should be, along with every other game. It is about a religious cult, not a political ideology, there are a few jabs here and there, but you will not see political agendas being pushed. Deducting points for that in a video game is silly, deal with it Polygon. Thank you Ubisoft. Let me get some of the other obvious things out of the way, this is a Far Cry game, all the fun open world action elements in the predecessors (can't speak for primal) are present here. I never thought that having Montana as the setting for this game would be a good idea, but I have to give credit to Ubisoft, they nailed it. The graphics are incredible for console standards and the map is absolutely massive with many things to do and explore, especially in co-op with a friend. A lot of people have complained that the story was terrible and I honestly do not believe "terrible" is the right word, however I think it is an average one with some interesting moments here and there, but nothing incredibly special or immersive. It centres around the Eden's Gate Cult, their leader Joseph Seed, along with his family and cult lieutenants, namely John, Jacob, & Faith. The 3 lieutenants all have their own reasons for existing and their own style of contribution to the cult's main purpose. John's background seemed pretty weak to me, while I understood and somewhat enjoyed the perspectives of Faith & Jacob. Also, stop comparing Joseph Seed to Vas. Vas was an excellent character, and is known for being one of the best video game villains ever, but Vas was not even the main villain in Far Cry 3, it was Hoyt, and I believe that Joseph Seed and the actor who played him did an excellent job in portraying a cult leader. The game also did really well with some of the guns/fangs for hire. They all have their own fun/funny personalities and combat styles that will suit different players. Though the AI can sometimes be a bit silly. I quite enjoyed roaming the lands with Peaches and Cheeseburger. How can you say no to Cheeseburger? There are several things that bother me about this game, and they will all be listed in the cons list below, but I have to mention a few things here. I am thoroughly disappointed with the lack of weapon variety in the game, there are so few weapons it is unbelievable, the easiest example for me to point out is that 3 out of the 4 SMG options are MP5s (MP5k, MP5, MP5SD & MP40). Their are also duplicate varieties of the AK-47 and Lever action rifle, and not much in the way of stats to differentiate some of these weapons. Where are the signature weapons? Miss the Bushman & Buzzsaw. It is incredibly lazy. Crafting from animal skins was removed, along with rare animal hunts, which I actually enjoyed for immersion sake. Mission boundaries are awkward and most of my fails were a result of this. The HUD can be difficult to see at times due to the colouring choice and background of the game. There are also way too many random enemy encounters on downtime if you have yet to liberate the region and it can get annoying. Also, if you are the guest in a co-op game, you will not receive any story progression, cannot help but feel like this was a poor decision. + Great graphics + Well designed setting + Classic Far Cry fun & action + Incredibly fun co-op + Good/Fun characters & specialists + Loads of side quests + Player agency from the get go + Fishing is a welcomed surprise + Far Cry Arcade gives creative types a chance to shine + Excellent gunplay and sounds + All perks unlocked from the get go + Love the fangs for hire options + Great soundtrack and atmosphere - Average story with poor pacing - Serious lack of weaponry - No story progression for visiting co-op player - Mission boundaries are weird - Too many enemy encounters on downtime - Poor hud visibility occassionally - Poor AI - Removed old crafting system - No signature weapons or rare animal hunts - No need for micro transactions regardless The game is far from perfect, but Ubisoft did one hell of a job and I do not see how it deserves anything lower than an 8. It is on par with Far Cry 4 and definitely an improvement over Primal.

I rarely ever give praise to a game in this modern era, let alone a 10/10 rating (95 rounded up), but this game is truly a masterpiece. I was always an open world RPG fan, and did not end up playing this game until a year after its release due to a persistent friend who annoyingly bugged me to try it. I had always been a Bethesda fan and so Elder Scrolls & Fallout always had priority for me. I finally gave in and tried the game out. I do not even know how to express how blown away I was by this game, it is actually hard to put into words without sounding like a glorified fanboy, but this game is just a masterpiece. I had no idea what happened in the previous entries, all I had was a prologue video with a bit of explanation on where I am when I start the game and what my objective was. Surprisingly, that is all it took to launch me into hours upon hours of gameplay to explore and interpret the lore of The Witcher universe on my own. This game is not perfect, but it is definitely one of the closest to that 100 score. It has a great narrative, enticing gameplay, loads of content to sink your teeth in, interesting characters with some of the best voice acting I've heard in a video game, and it keeps you coming back with the ability to try out different builds and continue your progression with the New Game+ feature. Not to mention some absolutely awesome DLC content that are well worth the extra cost. I will also mention the few dislikes I have with this game are that there is no jumping vertically in combat, some of the characters faces are identical or close to it (mostly villagers and city citizens), and of course a few bugs here and there that always exist in large open world RPGs that CDPR has made efforts to fixing. Oh, and Roach, sorry girl but you're really weirdly behaved in game. The List: Pros: - Amazing story and universe lore - One of the best game universes ever created, the settings in this game and the locations are the best I have ever seen, specifically Skellige & Toussaint, which were above and beyond IMO - Great and interesting characters with incredibly good voice acting talent - Excellent RPG levelling and character building elements - Loads of content outside of main story, including side quests, loot searches, treasure hunts for interesting Witcher gear that are based on your play style - Well designed monsters that are an absolute blast to tangle with, and a bestiary packed with information about these creatures that really makes them believable for the story - Some of the best side quests I have ever seen in an RPG game, really close to my love of the fallout side quests (3 & NV) - Excellent GWENT card game integration which I believe was an absolute blast to play in game and served as a nice break from grinding and battling - Two brilliantly executed DLC packs that are well worth the money, Blood and Wine is the better of the two, but Heart of Stone had a great story as well - Blood and Wine's Toussaint region is absolutely brilliant and beautiful - Blood and Wine's vampire lore is actually very interesting and it is fun to explore - Death March difficulty is tough, but fair Cons: - No vertical jump during combat hinders escapability and often gets Geralt stuck on small objects - A few recycled faces throughout the world's citizens - Roach's behaviour is awkward and cumbersome Those cons do not even come close to hindering the true masterpiece this game is, all I can really say is that you have to try it out yourself, if you have not already. Seeing as this game came out almost 3 years ago, most people probably already have, but I had to put this review on here because it really is a showcase of what video games have the potential to be... an artistic masterpiece. Nothing else to say, it is one of my Top 3 games of all time.

I entered this franchise with RTCW: Tides of War back on the original Xbox. It is one of my favourite games of all time, so naturally I compare all the sequels to it. The first two games were passable, this one is as well, barely. I could easily give this game less than a 5, but I do have to point out the good parts of it which make it passable. First off, the gun play is great in my opinion, I like the recoil, I like the heavy variants of weapons, and I like the sounds effects of all the weapons. The weapon upgrading system is also a neat touch, but not too amazing from an innovative point of view. Second, the perk system is great for adapting to your style of play, whether it is stealth based or guns blazing, perks are earned around your play style and are not too overpowering. Third, I think the game looks pretty great. I have read on other reviews that they have been having issues with FPS and whatnot (more so on PC), but on PS4 Pro on 4K, the game looks great. The positives end there unfortunately. The negatives tempted me to give this game a failing score. As others have mentioned before me, video games are an escape from reality, and used as time to unwind. THEY ARE NOT meant to be a platform for voicing your political concerns as a developer, whether it was Bethesda or Machine Games, gamers do not need, nor want, political ideologies (left or right) injected into these games. It is an absolute disgrace to push a leftist ideology and draw parallels between a **** United States and the Trump administration. LEAVE IT OUT. I do not support Trump and I have no problem with the **** killing aspect, as this was what Wolfenstein has always been about. I just do not believe that ideologies should be pushed in this type of platform. Beyond that glaringly obvious con, the enemy AI is really questionable sometimes. There are moments when you can be crouched in plain sight and they will not detect you. It really ruins the challenge and immersion. Why on Earth would you ever include this sensitive, emotional, and (again) political background story for BJ? He is now someone who grew up with an abusive, racist father, who did not approve of his interracial childhood friendship? This completely ruins the tough, relentless, borderline psychotic, personality that BJ had through the first couple entries in the franchise. This may not matter to some people, but to me, they softened BJ up completely and killed some of the immersion built up from the previous games. Hard to accept as a life long ID Software fan. Characters are somewhat weak, with a few good ones mixed in. Story is nothing amazing, and seems pretty sarcastic at some points. Definitely not meant to be taken seriously. Alongside this, the level design seems a bit poor, kind of makes some of the gun fights seem repetitive. Overall, I cannot bring myself to give this game higher than a 5, I had high expectations for Bethesda to make this game great after The New Order laid out a solid foundation, and after I played the masterpiece that was Doom, my expectations went even higher, and this probably hurt the value for me in the end. There just wasn't enough innovation and improvement over the predecessor to justify a higher score or $60 price tag. Bethesda should definitely consider bringing more ideas from ID back to this franchise, if a third instalment is planned.

New Vegas!!! We miss you! We're so sorry for taking you for granted... :( Yea, that is how bad it has gotten. I was one of those people that took this game for granted because of my insanely high expectations back then after playing through Fallout 3. But after playing Fallout 4, I sincerely apologize to Obsidian and I really wish we had them helping Bethesda today, because looking back now, this is one of the best RPGs I have ever played. Now before I get into this, let me just say that Fallout 4 is not a bad game by any stretch, in fact it made one large improvement over this game in the gunplay mechanics. Mostly everything else RPG related, was a downgrade though. What makes New Vegas one of the best RPGs I have ever played is how it incorporated every RPG element into the game correctly and effectively. This game is not perfect though, it was and sometimes still can be, plagued by bugs, as many RPGs are. Back in the day, this game used to crash so frequently it drove me insane, along with the words "**** has stopped working" appearing in all my nightmares. Bugs are to be expected in large open world RPGs, but some of NV's bugs used to be game breaking and downright frustrating at times back then, and I would be dishonest if I did not mention them as the main downside of this game. Thankfully, in more modern times, the game runs a lot smoother and has several official and unofficial patches and mods that help the game run a lot better and make it a hell of a lot more enjoyable. Big shoutout to the community for assembling the unofficial patches and mods that have elevated this game in recent years. When I really examine what made this game as good as it was, and still is, it just had to be the freedom of choices in the game. There were real consequences for everything you did in the game, and it made sure that you felt them as you progressed through the game. The attribute/skill point system for your abilities made so much sense back then and did not need to be changed in Fallout 4, it was much better being able to distribute the points into areas that were attuned to your gameplay, alongside choosing perks, than it is to only have the latter available. And for the love of God, what in the f*** were Bethesda thinking in removing the speech options and turning it into a console-ized 4 button response system/speech wheel??? That was an absolute fail, whereas Fallout 3 and NV had the numerous responses so that you felt like you had a plethora of conversation options, and could ask for every detail of a situation if you really wanted. Gonna stop with the rant comparison to Fallout 4 and just get into the list before it gets out of hand. Pros: - Excellent RPG elements - Excellent Map scale and Location - Actual choices with actual consequences - Great group of characters throughout the story - Excellent progression system for your character (Skill Points & Perks) - Incentivized exploration - Actual multiple endings - A few interesting companions - Great dialogue system - Good expansions/DLC questlines - Manages to capture the feeling of a post apocalyptic Vegas & stay true to the Fallout series - Debatably the best Fallout game in the series Cons: - The BUGS (better nowadays) - Terrible gunplay mechanics (VATS is almost always necessary) - Mediocre graphics (improved with mods nowadays) It is pretty easy to tell by this list that there are more good things than bad, especially now with all of the mod fixes the community has been able to create for this game. It is unfortunate that in its day, this game did not get the love it really deserved, seeing as it was expected to blow Fallout 3 out of the water and correct every error its predecessor had. Back then I would have given this game an 80 and wouldn't have thought twice about it. Now that I look back on it, and replayed it enough times recently, I can truly appreciate the game for what it was, and what it really is, which is one of the best RPGs I have ever played, and in MY opinion, the best entry in the Fallout series, which I will undoubtedly compare Fallout 5 to. This game, for me, receives a score of 93. Simply because I hate the gunplay mechanics to this day and that is my only major complaint. War never changes, but my scores do. :/

Far Cry 3 is a prime example of how to do an open world shooter correctly. While not without its own flaws, this game has stood the test of time and I write this review at the end of 2017 because there honestly has not been an open world shooter since this game that improved the formula. Sadly? So as I wait for Far Cry 5 to release (after a delay of a month was just announced), I feel like a little retro review is in order. Quick points to get out of the way, I have not played Far Cry, Far Cry 2, or Far Cry Primal, I have only played 3 & 4 because of interest in the setting and locale of the 2 games. There are two main things I have to get out of the way for this review that I cannot quickly put into a pro and con list because they stand out way too much. One, this game has one of the best villains I have ever seen in a video game, movie, etc. Vaas was exceptionally well done and the voice actor did an excellent job in making his personality believable and he truly was an amazing antagonist to fight with through the story. Like many other people, I believe his role in the game was too minimalistic and he definitely should have been utilized more as the other villain was not very memorable. Two, quick time events are an absolutely bull**** way to lazily transition a boss fight that the game has been building up to with its story. One of the main reasons I cannot give this game a 10. Dying Light did this too and it just irritates me so much. I don't want a damn cutscene finale developers!!! Anyways, here is the list: Pros: - Excellent & gorgeous setting/location - One of the best villains ever (Vaas) - Vast array of wildlife - Large open world/sandbox - Lots of side quests - Long list of available weapons - Good RPG elements in class building (Herron, Shark, Spider) - Allows you to play your own way (stealth or guns blazing) - Some interesting characters - Simple crafting system - Great skill trees - Fun over the top action - Signature weapons are a blast to use and unlock - Fast travel - Short load times Cons: - Fu**ing QTEs (Should have stopped this back then) - Awkward ending? - Jason, as a main character, goes from a pu**y to a jackass instantaneously? - Fall damage - First person driving - Enemy AI can sometimes be really dumb, or notice you in the bushes from 2 miles off Despite some flaws, this game is the last open world shooter I thoroughly enjoyed because it combined all the elements that make video games great. It had over the top action, it took some basic rpg elements, it had an amazing adversary in the form of Vaas, it gave you the freedom to play how you wanted, a vast number of side quests and missions to complete so that you could build up your character and spend hours sinking your teeth into the environment and explore it at your own pace, some cut scenes that weren't overly intrusive, and just gave you a giant sandbox to screw around in. Overall, this game gave you everything you wanted in an open world shooter, and easily stands the test of time. If this game used Vaas more than they did, and did not use QTEs in boss battles, I would have easily given this game a score of 90+. As it stands, this game, for me, is an 87. This is truly the last open world shooter that I would give a score above 75 and it is actually a real shame to think that. Too many games nowadays focus on over the top cinematics and graphics in the form of intrusive cut scenes that strip away control from the player and turn the game into a movie, when it should be interactive all the way through. Before this turns into a rant on modern games, I'll just say that I miss games like these and I hope Far Cry 5 can replicate some of the memories that this game was able to give me. Cheers!

I honestly don't know where to start with this game, there's so much wrong with it, and the worst part about all these problems is that they have been in the game for years now. While there are some highlights this year, there are just way too many problems for this game to even exist and justify an $80 (CAD) price tag. I got this game recently on EA Access for 50% off in their "We are way below selling expectations" panic sale, and I still feel like I overpaid for this product. I have played this franchise since NHL 99 and have admittedly enjoyed the instalments over the years as they all had their own little innovations year over year that made me continue to buy them, unfortunately this only applies to the generation before Xbox 360 and PS3. This past decade has brought little to no innovation since NHL 07's skill stick and control switch. NHL 13 boasted true performance skating and it was a disaster (still is), and NHL 15 brought the NBC broadcast scheme for games, beyond those two "updates", I cannot remember a single innovation that would even qualify for having the ability to entice players to try the game, and that in itself is a stretch. This is actually sad at this point because I do not see this franchise going much further at this rate, sales figures are way down, well below expectations, I am almost sure there have been firings over in Burnaby, and EA will have to make a tough decision on its NHL sim soon. But, at the same time, I cannot feel sorry for them at all, year after year, this game has literally just become a roster update for the full price of a new game. People have complained about problems and bugs in the game on EA's self help website and none of the issues have been addressed. On top of that, there are more bugs and glitches in this game which can be considered "game-breaking" like taking away goals, adding minutes, and looping faceoffs that halt the game from advancing. Pros: - NHL Threes is a fun mode that offers a bit of novelty - The defensive skill stick is a nice addition - At least it has another soundtrack this year for the menu Cons: - Game breaking bugs and glitches - Game play feels identical to NHL 13 and has for years - Goals are scored the exact same way as all the previous entries (one-timers, break aways etc.) - Poke checking is horribly over powered - Menu layout is basic and boring - Soundtrack does not have enough songs - NBCSN commentary and scheme is stale, boring, and littered with advertising - HUT mode is the only focus as it is micro-transaction based, yet it has horrifically inconsistent outcomes as a result of momentum and "tilt", they could not even get the sinister P2W system right - True performance skating is terrible as ever, stopping and starting as well as turning sharp makes players look like they belong in the Timbits league - The new one touch dekes are unnecessary and have somehow made the normal dekes from previous year completely broken for some players - Absolutely no changes or updates to the EASHL which most likely saved this game from bankruptcy, only reason I can think of is because it does not generate extra revenue, much like the be a pro, and franchise modes, which also suffer from lack of updates A.I. is absolutely atrocious for both your team and the opposition, there is literally no balance here, your A.I. teammates will not be able to make simple "hockey plays", their movement is broken, they are rarely ever in the correct position, they constantly get in your way, they will almost never be in position on the blue line resulting in offsides and some of the most difficult D to D passing plays ever. While on the other side, the computer A.I. (mostly in franchise and offline) can keep the puck away from you with their picture perfect passing and invisible shield bubbles that stop you from making contact with them, all while it becomes an absolute swiss cheese goal fest on your goalie for them on All Star & Superstar difficulty. There is literally no balance whatsoever to make these difficulties challenging, but fair. I should not have to tamper with every single slider to make the game even remotely playable. All of these negatives would constitute a rating of zero, which some users have evidently given and I completely understand that, but to me, they did add a fun mode in NHL Threes which is enough for me to give this game a 1 (10%) rating. I am sorry to say this but EA has absolutely failed this game and this franchise, you guys have done absolutely nothing to advance this series since 2012, and that change was for the worse. This game should not be full price, at best it should be a $10 update, there is absolutely nothing in this game in the way of innovation to justify the full price tag. Sean Ramjagsingh has to go, along with everyone who follows him before you absolutely destroy the only NHL sim on the market for good. Wake up EA, you are the cancer of the gaming industry.

Call of Duty, oh boy. This series has been around for nearly 15 years, and year after year they release a new instalment that sells solely based on hype. I was idiotic enough to buy into the hype because of my love for COD 2 and WAW, and now I obviously regret it. Basically, this COD was meant to be a nod to the games of old with a bs tagline of "Get your old squad back together". Well, I did, and while some think the game is passable and others would give this a zero, 4 is where I stand. I have played the series since Call of Duty 2 on Xbox 360 back in 05, and I believe I have just grown tired of the same formula, on top of the fact that this game is absolutely horrible. My review is more focused on the Multiplayer as it is the primary focus. Positives: - Campaign is great looking and very cinematic - WWII setting is nice to see again in both SP & MP - Headquarters setup for pre-game is a unique touch and offers some variety - Boots on the ground, no robots and jetpacks Negatives (Primarily in MP): - Cinematic campaigns do not equal fun - Nothing we have not seen before - Abysmal map design (3 main lanes, funnelled into the middle) - SMG focused CQB combat, not much variety for battles - No bolt action rifles without a scope? In a WWII based game? Is this a joke? (For Multiplayer) - Micro-transaction push with useless loot crates (near ubiquitous these days) - Forget about team focused gameplay (war mode is not as good as promised) - Spawning and spawn zones don't flip as much as they should, too easy to trap or be trapped - Forced perk system (divisions), does not allow you to mix and match perks to your liking as easily as previous entries Not even gonna bother commenting on **** zombies since it really does not change much and is usually pretty consistent in its ability to create chaotic fun and endless nights with friends. I am sure it does its job properly as its standalone mode, which I would technically deem a positive. This game feels way too much like a re-skin, and less like a new and innovative AAA product (Yes, I know I should never expect COD and innovation to be mentioned in the same sentence nowadays). Alongside this, I have to mention that the servers for this game have been terrible as well, I did not want to mention it in the negatives as I am sure that it will be corrected soon. Also, for the love of gaming, I do not know why Swastikas have to be removed from a game that is being released outside of Germany? It was part of WWII, gaming is not a place for sensitive SJWs to modify every aspect to their liking. The soldier configurations and officers fall in this category as well. A black woman on the front lines for the reich? Stop. Historical accuracy is important for these types of games IMO, and as great looking as the campaign may be, why are german soldiers wielding PPSH (Russian) sub machine guns in D-Day bunkers? The social justice aspect has become so intrusive in video games that its sad. I do not care who it offends, this has to be part of the review. If you want a fake and dishonest review about these games, go watch your favourite YouTuber or check your favourite game review site who both get paid to say good things about the product. AAA products are dying in the quality department with things like this and micro-transactions and nobody says or does anything about it. Overall, you just cannot find enough positive things in this game to truly override the negatives, and for that reason, I end up giving this game a 4 or 40%, because while it is nice to see a return to boots on the ground and a WWII setting, the abysmal map design, exceptionally poor balancing, toxic community, lack of weaponry, and bad game mechanics just make this game a disaster that is relying on hype for a return to the old style of COD many of us miss. Take a pass on this one, those days are long gone.

Take Doom for what it is, a mindless, violent, adrenaline fuelled journey through a Mars facility built by the UAC as you "Rip & Tear" your way through hordes of demons. This game delivers what it has delivered for years, making you, the gamer, feel like an unstoppable badass. Updated with modern graphics that are beautiful, a perk and upgrade system that balances out well, a challenge system that is optional to accelerate the pace of those upgrades, and the glorious easter eggs that slap you in the face with some great nostalgic levels from the classic games, this truly embodies a positive modern touch that does not harm the nostalgic feel of the game. Although, it has to be mentioned that the multiplayer is subpar, and while it does feel a little bit like Quake Arena, the balancing of the demons kinda throws everything off, and it gets tiring fast. Also, this game is nothing like Doom 3, it is more like a modernized Doom 2, so do not expect to be walking around with your flashlight and have imps jump from around corners and dark hallways. Oh, and you never have to reload. Positives: - Fast paced action - Great upgrade system - Beautiful graphics - Lots of guns (classics included) - Nightmare mode makes things interesting and tough - No other game will make you feel more like a badass - Classic level easter eggs and secrets are fun to find - Mick Gordon absolutely nailed this soundtrack - An amazing fps to help escape from the plethora of cut & paste fps games out these days - Snap map allows for users to share their creativity Negatives: - Story is linear and just background noise - Multiplayer won't entice you to return - Snap map creativity is limited by modding restrictions - No single player DLC :( Overall, this game is awesome. No other word I can use to truly describe it, it really is a standout for FPS games. I may have a slight bias towards Doom as it was one of the first games I ever played on my PC, but if you pick this one up, especially for the current price, you will not regret it. This is a must buy for fans of the series. It really does Rip & Tear itself away from garbage FPS games that are being released around it. This is one of the two games of 2016 that I thoroughly enjoyed and put countless hours into, and it easily receives a 90% (9/10) from me. BFG = Best F***ing Game. The other game is Uncharted 4 btw.

Fallout 4 is truly a worthy successor to New Vegas, you can hate me all you want for saying it, but ultimately, it is true. I have put nearly 250 hours into F04 and I still go back and play it from time to time just to do different builds and do radical play-throughs. Is this the best Fallout game? No. Is this the best RPG Fallout game? No. What it is, is a very well designed open world fps, to be completely honest. There are some minor RPG elements here and there to keep it in the category, but most RPGs these days are significantly dumbed down. Positives: - Great and expansive open world - Excellent gunplay mechanics (You can finally aim down sights reliably) - Fun settlement building system (better with mods) - Good character building system (perk chart) - Good DLC content - Replay value - Some great characters - Expansive mod list (Xbox & PC only) - Fun to play Negatives: - Dialogue wheel is just unnecessary with limited options - Story is weak, along with some of the characters, especially yours - Missing some major rpg elements - Repetitive side quests (shut up preston) - Typical rpg bugs and crashes - Mehh graphics Overall, IMO, Fallout 4 is a worthy successor to NV in the fallout series. I do not believe it is better than New Vegas, but it is certainly worthy of carrying the name. A good effort overall by Bethesda bringing the series to the next gen consoles and hopefully the next instalment will include more rpg elements with the positives of this game, because that would be an amazing product. Something to build on for the future. 83% = 8/10.

Before I get into this review, I just want to say that I am a Resident Evil fan. I played 2 and 3 when I was younger, and played the original (Resident Evil 1) just after that. I am somewhat surprised to see the amount of poor ratings being given to this game. After Resident Evil 5 & 6, everyone called for a return to the classic survival-horror theme and atmosphere that the original trio were known for. To that effect, they completely succeeded. This game reminded me of the first game in so many ways that I became instantly hooked. The emblem/insignia door pieces, the inventory management, the item boxes, puzzles, narrow and suffocating hallways, and the house in general (Reminiscent of the RE1 Spencer Estate), are some of the several ties that evoke fun and scary memories of the classic games. RE7 did an excellent job of recreating the fear factor that was present in the original game. It might be hard to imagine those originals as "scary", but when I was a younger kid playing those games, it was absolutely terrifying. This scary atmosphere combined with excellent voice acting, some memorable villain moments, and general gameplay mechanics, are this game's strong suits. This game is not perfect though. The story was especially disappointing for me. The premise for this entire game was great, the Baker family and farm house was great, the unnecessary extension beyond this location, to me, was not. It felt as though they were trying to stretch the game out and I believe it actually hurt the plot overall. The game took me 9-10 hours to complete, and to be honest, I could not wait for it to end in the later chapters. It felt like it was overstaying its welcome at that point. The actual plot itself, is incredibly reminiscent of another video game that I am sure many others can figure out like I did, and that was very disappointing to me. I know a lot of people will dislike the fact that this game is around 10 hours to complete, but you have to understand that horror games like this cannot be much longer because it is incredibly easy to desensitize your audience in this genre and lose the fear factor. You are meant to take your time, discover secrets, read documents, loot supplies, and immerse yourself in the story. RE fans will appreciate this more than newcomers will, I would think. Overall, if you're a fan of RE, you will enjoy this game. It is a very good attempt to recapture the survival horror atmosphere the original games possessed, but the disappointing (copied?) storyline, and unnecessary extensions, were a major downside for me. 7.5/10