I can see why GoW was a hit back in the day but the truth is gaming has moved on from what this game can offer us and no amount of updated visuals is going to change that. The storytelling was lacklustre, combat repetitive, AI poor and final 'battle' a gimmicky mess. 6/10 is maybe generous but I am happy that I got to experience the start of an important gaming franchise for the first time.
Without a doubt one of the best video games I've ever played and I think it needs to be taken seriously when you're talking about one of the greatest games of all time. I had some issue with over-levelling towards the end as, to be frank, I completed 99% of the side content and some of the 'super bosses' are designed with you failing in mind as you learn their attacks but... this is one of those games where I'm out the other side and I feel both sad its over and absolutely shell shocked as to what I experienced. The voice acting, the story, the OST, the visual design/art, mechanics, the buff system... the emotional twists and turns... ALL are unparalleled IMO. I have NEVER played a game such as this and I'll be surprised(and pleased) if I ever do again.
Avowed... a game of two halves: The game is stunning, I adore this art style BUT you move from lush forest to desert then craggy wasteland. It becomes less interesting as you progress. Combat is enjoyable, companion skills easy to use BUT there's no fight variety and companion skills are very weak. Companions are varied and interesting to get to know, you feel like friends by the end and they do react to your decisions BUT there's no follow up on that, they forget at next camp. You're rewarded for exploring and parkour via treasure chests aplenty BUT 95% of them contain crafting mats only. The story on a moment to moment basis was good BUT the overall lore of the world? I was lost from the start and stayed lost. One feature with no good side are the skill trees, full of boring passives and uninteresting skills. Overall I enjoyed my time playing but would I recommend? Sale maybe.
Dry writing, lack of humour, a baffling equipment system that feels like there's 20 guns in the entire game, useless rewards, boring perks and skills, level locked enemies, an uninteresting plot... and yet I finished the game and the DLCs. There's just something about the game that's kept me playing. The visuals are great, the weapon-play is simple but enjoyable and if you ignore the other 5 companions Parvati is a joy to experience the world with. But ultimately there's a LOT more to dislike than like and my rating reflects that. However I'm looking forward to TOW2...
Visually amazing and the enemy tech is beyond impressive but the combat feels awkward, the timed elements a haze against the swarm of enemies. The mission-style of gameplay really hindered my understanding of what was actually happening with the story and that's important because... I'm brand new to the franchise and there was little in the way of explaining ANYTHING. Did we have to read up on 40K lore prior to playing? Read up on the events of the first Space Marine game? I mean I could maybe recommend or you want to just shoot lots of stuff or if you're already a fan of the franchise? Definitely not for me though.
I'm just so lost on what to say. It's such a unique experience, less a game and more a jaw droppingly beautiful story of sadness, struggle, bravery and perseverance. The combat more a side bar to the story, creating set pieces of action amongst the overall adventure.
One of the most visually impressive games I've played and I'm not sure a game will ever come close to matching it's audio design. Listening via surround sound headphones is an experience I'll never **** in expecting a game and I think you'll be disappointed. As a playable story? Special.
I can count on a single hand the games that have had a significant emotional impact on me in my lifetime. Games that may not have been the most engaging but have left a permanent mark on me that I'll never forget. Lost Words joins that list.
I can't describe how because that would lessen the impact for yourself. The story is everything, heartfelt and beautifully written. The music is touching and the art direction... I plan on playing many games this year but honestly, 11 days into January 2025, I can say this'll likely be top 5.
I was having fun until the game part of the game started. When you're throwing 5 enemies at me at once and the only offensive skills I have are 'Weak AF punch' and 'Use ALL energy and gimp yourself next round' you better believe I'm gonna be p'd off when the enemy dodges both!
Can't heap enough praise on this one, it really took me by surprise. It's rather short and don't go expecting anything super complicated but the charm of the environments, the humour in the writing and the fluidity of the combat just make this so much fun to play!
Combat is reaction based fencing-style fighting but with a small amount of puzzle solving. Assessing each enemy facing you, their (small) move set and how to go about separating groups in order to best them. All with an added flair and touch of humour.
Highly recommend this little gem ****.
The best compliment I can give it is it's Indiana Jones through and through. It's like they released another movie staring Harrison Ford and to me that is crazy. HOWEVER I feel that in trying to be more **** it struggled a little. The insistence on having collectables in the game actively took you out of the main attraction, the story and it felt very much like filler. The side quests were weak and/or repetitive and I never really felt like I was actually exploring somewhere. It is all very linear.
It's a very pretty game though and I really did enjoy my time playing. I just feel I would have had more fun if either a) it was an interactive story game, b) there was more freedom in exploration or c) I was more of an Indi fan.
Review from someone who many would consider pretty 'woke' (whatever that truly means). Many of the issues with the game have been mentioned before by countless others. The writing is banal, the dialogue choices bland etc however I think the game's biggest flaw is that it just thrusts you into this world, into this story and expects you to be enamoured with it. As someone who hasn't played any other DA game I'm completely out of my depth... it's like reading a book from 100 pages in and having to pick up the previous chapters from what's said afterwards. After 5ish hours of playing I feel nothing for the characters, the world or the plot. The combat is alright but gets very samey after a while but that's fine because 3/4 of the game so far is cut scenes and walking... I'm trying to be kind here as it's not a terrible game but it's done a terrible job in keeping me interested in it.
For a start do the world a favour and ignore the 'Sweet Baby Inc ruins games' crowd on here review bombing games. They're discriminatory a-hats, their opinion means nothing. So with that said yeh, this is a pretty terrible game IMO. Reminds me of a cheap Assassin's Creed clone where nothing it does lands anywhere near. The enemy AI is laughable, the animations and combat clunky and after well over an hour of playing I've no clue what the story is. I finally lost patience with it when it prompted me to use a magical shield skill to counter bullets despite having faced enemies with guns up until this point... it feels rushed and unpolished and apart from the setting and character designs I have no good things to say about it.
##Initial Launch 8/10: Strong words incoming... Janthir Wilds is probably, so far at least, the best expansion ever released for GW2. Not my favourite by any means but in terms of storytelling, in terms of map design, in terms of features added and the flawless execution of this initial patch it is absolutely sublime and it's caught a lot of veteran players off guard given how Secrets of the Obscure ended. We have not had an expansion feel more natural and lived in than JW.
The addition of Homesteads(housing) into the game is a game changer and, a few teething issues aside, it could be the best of any MMO since Wildstar. My only criticism comes in the second map Janthir Syntri as the events are too sparse and there's not a huge amount bringing you back to the map other than to admire the design.##--##Subsequent Launches: 3/10: Oh boy did that go downhill fast. Positives include the new raid and Fractal dungeon (neither of which I've played as of now but they got good reception) and the fairly small Mistburned Barrens map which, while tiny, had a decent amount of events happening. The troubling issue is the story and later maps... once again ANET failed spectacularly to stick the landing. Anticlimactic, bland, far too small and nowhere near enough depth to satisfy even the most easy to please lore hound. And the issue with this is that it drowns out all the great things Janthir Wilds has done and that's such a shame in my eyes. It just seems as though ANET are for whatever reason spread a little thin right now and brilliant starts are being wiped out by finishes unworthy of the talent I know ANET has within their ranks. I do recommend Janthir Wilds but expect a rocky landing after the initial dizzying high.
While I think it did skew a little lighter than I was hoping for, and even though I don't think it quite grasped the creativity in puzzles that it could have done, it's homely and wholesome and left me with a huge grin on my face! Recommend.
Knew going in that I wasn't too into Metroidvania style games but thought I'd give it a go as the first game played on my new build. The gameplay itself has a huge amount of depth and combat feels fluid but ultimately I stopped playing after around 6ish hours as I could tell it wasn't for me. The story just didn't excite enough to carry on but ultimately even I can see that this is a VERY good game for those into the genre. Rating is my personal opinion but can see why it's getting high marks all round.
As a fan of the MCU I was worried that this was going to be a 'We have Guardians at home' moment but I am so very glad to be proven wrong. The cast are similar but different in enough ways to offer a glimpse at another universe's GotG and the acting and writing were so on point I was glued. The combat was simple yet so engaging and fun, interspersed with witty dialogue and set pieces. The cinematics, the worlds you travel to and the people met... honestly the only negative I can think of is the fact they seemed to want to want you to experience as much as possible and it felt a little much at times. I'd also liked a little more of the crafting(workbench) system to enable more customisability but again it's a minor grumble. Everything from the visuals to the feel of the game just had me smiling from ear to ear and there's plenty of game here! It's not a short game at all. A pleasure to play and although it's wishful thinking at this point given everything that's gone on I'd love a sequel.
The game is stunning to look at, the soundtrack is epic in scale and mechanically the game seems very solid and scratches that itch. One of those 'let's just play for an hour more' kinda games. If I stopped my review here I'd give it 8/10. But... I am absolutely baffled with two things: 1) The storytelling is absolutely shocking to the point that honestly I've not a clue what's going on. I have no affinity for my character or any of the NPCs as the game hasn't given me any kind of time with them. Things just seem to happen and then you get a dialogue choice that doesn't matter at all. You push through zone after zone in quick succession before hitting a town/hub... give me a reason to get invested in your world FFS! 2) A good 95% of the time a fail should be down to your skill. You've missed a mechanic, you needed to avoid damage better etc. In Last Epoch that answer is, most of the time, 'get more defence/resistance'. I just fail to see how this is fun at all, or even a challenge. "You died to poison"... okay so you're telling me I need more poison resist? Should I go back to town and just hope there's an armour piece that has that and doesn't ruin my build? Baffled at the high scores on here but maybe it's just because I'm not a typical ARPG enjoyer, more into the regular RPGs where you get to explore a world. Get lost in it and it's lore. Last Epoch to me just feels like mechanics wrapped up in a pretty shell. The gaming addict in me felt the pull but ultimately it gave me no reason to love it and for my own sake I had to quit at level 60. Gave it more than a fair shot but ultimately I don't get the hype at all.
Rating this a few years after playing so will keep this brief. I came back to the game in 2019 and thought I'd see just what had changed. I played the Living World season 2 content and it peaked my interest... a lot had changed for the better. Then I headed into Heart of Thorns and my mind was blown to smithereens. The story, the characters, the events but most of all the maps... I didnt expect it nor did I think GW2 was capable of it. To this day I will remember that feeling of going in blind and saying "okay ANET, make me want to carry on playing your game!". Four years later I still am and I credit HoT for that despite the story and set pieces largely getting better year by year.
Writing this a few years after the fact so I'll keep this quick! The story was good if a little bland compared to the following Living World content releases. But cinematically it is one of the high points of the franchise, the set pieces spectacular! It's brought down by the lack of meta events which means the maps are less replayable than many other areas of the game. Also bringing down the score slightly is the railroading GW2 used to be known for, pushing you VERY quickly through the latter third of the expansion story. So fast was it that we got 5 maps in total but the last two occupied maybe 1/8 of the game's story.
Revised score: Down to a 7 from 8/10. Reason: After a year playing the expansion the longevity of the content in EoD maps has slightly decreased for me. Still great but it's natural that when you play content so often it becomes a little more stale. To the negative reviews... everyone is entitled to an opinion but honestly ignore the 1-3's and take the 10's with a pinch of salt. This expansion was the best selling to date by far, was the most well received content for the game in years and encouraged more people to start playing the game than since it went free to play in 2015. ANET announced that due to it's success they now have more devs working on the game so it's here to stay for a long time yet. I've played the game since launch and seen both the ups and downs of GW2. The latest expansion, End of Dragons, is a joy to experience - from the vibrant new maps to the shock of a Jadepunk world we have not seen anything like in GW2 up until now. The music is stunning, taking inspiration from traditional Korean music (Maclaine Diemer is a HIGHLY underappreciated composer outside of GW2) and the final battle meta event is honestly one of the most impressive scenes seen in any open world MMO. The lore of EoD is the best story content since Season 4... maybe even surpassing it. Ankka has become one of my fav characters in the franchise and while not entirely to my liking did well to wrap up the decade long Dragon arc we've had in GW2 and gave hints as to where we are heading next. Negatives to balance it out: The third map does seem a little barren, could have done with a few more events maybe and with the final map being a smaller meta map the events are few and far between outside of meta time. The Elite specs haven't all been slam dunks with many saying some feel rushed and bland and were very unbalanced at launch however as of me editing this review major balance updates are on their way to fix many of the issues. Finally I'd say that there are indications here and there that make you feel like the expansion was made under a bit of a time constraint... not rushed but just feels like it's missing the odd thing here and there. I'm a fan of the franchise so I am naturally biased, this review is based on me being a current player but honestly this expansion was and still is great fun and with it being GW2 you buy it and it's there for you to have fun in until the servers shut down. GW2 with all the expacs and Living World content is the best $100 you'll honestly spend on any game.
